


Monsters and Mind Control

by Scampercat101



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Lifebonds, M/M, Makuta Queens, Matoro lives, Mind Control, Multi, Teri just wanted to save his bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2019-08-29 01:54:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scampercat101/pseuds/Scampercat101
Summary: A voice speaks out, causing Matoro a moment of hesitation... And that moment will result in events he could have never imagined. Perhaps Teridax and the other Makuta were not the forces of evil that someone had made him believe.





	1. Sacrifice Stopped

**Author's Note:**

> There’s a separate work that I wrote before this, which you might want to read first. There are headcanons mentioned tangentially in this AU that may confuse you.
> 
> I decided to start this with text from Matoro’s original sacrifice, leading up to the moment that everything starts to change for him.

_In the heart of a waterfall, Matoro fell._

_The outside world was a blur of motion. He thought he caught glimpses of high mountains around him. It seemed there was a body of murky water down below, though he could not be sure. At one point, a dark, winged shape flew through the falls just below him, but he could not identify it._

_Time was measured in micro-seconds now, flashes of sight and sensation as he plunged deep into the core of the universe. He realized that he had made this leap of faith with absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with the Mask of Life once he got here. It was almost enough to make him laugh. His five best friends were giving their lives for him, and here he was, moments from disaster and still clueless about what it would take to be a hero this day._

Put on the mask.

_“What-?” he said, startled. “Who said that?”_

_There was no answer. Had he really heard that, or was he losing his mind?_

Put on the mask.

_There was that voice again, but now, as quickly as he heard it repeat itself, another voice interrupted, weak and pleading._

**No…! You’ll die, and I’ll be trapped forever…! Please, NO!**

Matoro’s concentration was diverted as a shadow loomed over him, and he looked up to see the Maxilos robot, in spite of its damages and general condition, following him through the immense waterfall, chips and pieces of its armor falling away to reveal darker armor underneath. Still possessed by Teridax, it bellowed at him. “ _STOP!_ ”

He hesitated, taken aback, and it was just enough for Teridax to catch up to him and grab him, wrenching the Ignika out of his hand as they landed at the base of the waterfall, in a large patch of stalagmites. Strangely enough, the Makuta rolled in midair, pulled him close, and positioned himself between the Toa and the ground, absorbing all of the impact into himself and leaving Matoro unharmed. As soon as they landed, Matoro had to cling to the stalagmites to avoid being swept into murkier waters he was unsuited to breathe in or onto nearby land from the waterfall’s flow. Teridax, meanwhile, was experiencing his own bit of panic, quickly getting himself back upright and checking over the Ignika. Despite the mask’s now-dull silver color, the Makuta seemed to be relieved to find no chips in it, or other damage.

Matoro’s mind was racing, and it chose to focus on his team; they had needed to hold the Barraki back to keep him safe, they could be dying in battle right now…!

As soon as he thought that, Teridax’s head snapped up to look at him, and the Makuta came over to rest an enormous hand against his cheek, thumb tip against his forehead. The Toa froze in surprise, then felt his mind connect to another that was reaching out into the watery realm above them. He saw a faint mental image of his friends, and it panicked him even more as he saw Jaller about to unleash a Nova blast. But suddenly they were all gone from the sea, the connection giving the barest sense of them kneeling on Metru Nui’s shores. Their forms were shifting, changing into their familiar Inika forms, but there were gills to either side of their necks for future use. They were away from danger, and able to breathe, and most importantly of all, they were _safe_.

He was reeling. Teridax - the biggest threat to their world - had saved him from harm, and saved the lives of his entire _team!_ Was this some surreal hallucination? He nearly let go of the stalagmites and allowed himself to be swept away from sheer surprise, but quickly regained his grip.

“Easy there. Easy, be calm. I can help you.” Teridax was now talking to him, and the words were without malice, without any threat. The Makuta’s fingers all shifted to rest against his throat, causing him to jolt in panic before he held still.

“What are you doing…?!” Matoro tried to press himself back against the rocks, but there was little to no room for movement. He could feel his pulse pounding in his throat - and he was fairly certain the Makuta could feel it too - but then there was a _shifting_ in his skin and armor, then his bones and every other part of his body. “WHA-?!”

“Hold still, and be calm. This won’t take long.” Teridax pressed his other hand to Matoro’s chest, holding him in place. “I’m trying to use my Mutation powers to help you stay alive here.” His brows were furrowed in intense concentration.

Matoro could feel his bones ache from the change. His back suddenly _popped_ and he yelped in pain as he felt his spine straighten out, his neck cricking as it went upright.

Teridax immediately engaged another power, bringing Quick Healing into use and relieving Matoro’s pain. “You’re doing well. It’s almost done.”

Matoro could feel his neck changing, and gaped as he felt gills emerge on his neck, filtering the water for him to breathe even more easily. His chest shifted, lungs becoming ready for use again. He could see his legs stretching to be a bit longer, feet shifting to a familiar six-toed style. He was becoming a Toa Inika again, just as his friends had.

Teridax was gently pulling him out from under the waterfall, coaxing him. “You should be able to breathe more easily now. Come on out, give it a try.” He carefully maneuvered a hand between the young Toa and the rocky stalagmites, helping pull him to his feet. “Let’s get you back into the open air.”

Matoro sneezed as he exited the water, clearing any excess water out of his throat and nostrils. The air felt far colder than the water had. He shivered, his legs trembling as he got used to standing without water support again. He stared at Teridax, stunned. “You helped me… and you helped my friends… why?!”

Teridax snorted. “I never wished to do anyone harm, my brother least of all. I was trying to help him, as strange as it may sound.” He let out a wry snort as Matoro gave him a look that suggested the Makuta might as well have grown a second head. “He started off as a Toa of Life more your size, you know.”

Matoro blinked. “A Toa…?”

“Indeed.” Teridax gave a confirming nod, and lifted his hand to be palm-up. The air above his hand rippled, then suddenly the image of a golden Toa appeared hovering above it - an illusion formed by the Makuta’s powers. The Toa wore the Mask of Life, his bright blue eyes peering out from behind it like dots of clear sky. He seemed curious of the world around him. “This was how he was first made, and he had hoped to stay that way. Quite a few of the Great Beings were willing to let him do so - he could still control the universe they’d built and planned in that form. He was only supposed to control the full capacity of the robot in cases of extreme emergency - such as if something threatened the planet where the robot lay. But unfortunately, the majority insisted on fixing something that wasn’t broken, and forced him into the robot without fine-tuning it, or checking that everything had gone right. Almost immediately, all of the sensory information from the universe - knowledge of every death, every emotion, every single event - slammed into his consciousness in a flood. His sanity could not last like that. He was screaming over our sibling bond, the only semblance of a distraction he had from the onslaught. The only thing I could think to do was to put him to sleep… and I didn’t realize until later that being so deeply asleep was killing him.”

Matoro was gaping, looking between the towering form of Teridax and the previously-golden mask held in said Makuta’s hand. “But… why did you stop me from reviving him? Isn’t he going to die?”

“There’s another means of reviving him that I heard tell of long ago. It’s still a possibility right now, and it could allow him to live as a Toa among the people again. But reviving him by your sacrifice… it would have forced him back into full awareness, possibly permanently. I doubted his mind would survive that.”

The Toa thought back to the second voice he had heard as he had fallen through the water with the Mask in hand. “I… I think I heard him. He was pleading for me not to put on the mask.” He looked back up to Teridax. “But… how are we supposed to bring the alternate plan to completion? People will think I’m mad if I try to tell them this… truth. If they saw you, they might attack both of us on sight, or at least view me as a traitor! To them, it seems like the universe is slowly and inevitably dying. They’ll think I hesitated too long out of cowardice.”

Teridax rested an immense hand on his shoulder. “Even if it comes to that, I have support elsewhere we can rely on. And if they see my brother with us once all is said and done, I doubt they would still be able to deny our story. Do not worry.”

Matoro sighed. “...alright. I’ll take your word for it.” He looked around them, noticing the caves of this realm - wherever they were - were growing somewhat darker, suggesting the onset of night. “We had best find some place to camp out for the night.”

“There are plenty of secure caves nearby. Follow me.” The Makuta started walking away - keeping a sedate pace, clearly accommodating Matoro’s shakier legs - and Matoro did his best to follow. Before long, a large cave in the rock wall loomed before them. Teridax lifted his claws and flicked a spot by the entrance, and dozens of glowing crystals dimly lit their view.

Matoro approached some nearby reedy plants, picking out the drier stalks and piling them in one place on the cave floor. He also took some of the leaves that had fallen, placing them over the dried reeds as tinder. “Let me see if I can…” Concentrating, he tried a trick he’d only had chance to attempt once or twice before, removing any cold from the area just around the wood and leaves. Sure enough, they ignited, a lovely little fire beginning to crackle merrily and warm them both. “That should do it.” He sat down a short distance from Teridax, enjoying the warmth of the fire.

Teridax blinked at him, then quirked a brow and reached over before _scruffing_ and _lifting_ him.

“Yagh!” Matoro went limp, flushed with embarrassment as he was lifted like a youngling or Matoran. He looked over at Teridax, stunned as the Makuta brought him into his lap. The next thing he knew, he was seated between Teridax’s knees and held loosely in the circle of his arms. He gave the Makuta another weirded-out look.

 _Perhaps I have grown a_ third _head this time_ , Teridax thought in amusement.

“...why did you put me in your lap…?” Matoro’s tone showed his obvious skepticism.

“I’ve had to keep my Rahkshi warm by letting them dogpile me several times,” Teridax said with a shrug. “It’s fairly cold here.”

“Al...right…” Matoro settled down and tried his best to not feel too flustered.

Teridax watched the young Toa as they settled into rest for the night. He was immensely relieved. _That was a close call… for both my brother and this young innocent. If I had been even a few moments slower… he would have been dead, due to my own mistake._ He shuddered at the thought, focusing back on Matoro. _His willpower is something to be reckoned with. If anyone can help me put things to rights… he surely can._

Matoro took some time to properly settle into sleep. His mind was racing with the events of the past hour or so. _Such a short time for my understanding of the world to be turned on its head_ , he thought to himself. He peered at Teridax out of the corner of his eye. The Makuta had been nothing but kind and intent on providing aid during that time - surreal in itself. And that voice… Mata Nui’s voice, pleading for him to stop. There was little denying that he had heard that voice. Perhaps, just maybe… his hesitation had turned out for the better. Perhaps… Teridax could be a fond ally.


	2. Meeting Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nuva discover the new ally Matoro has made.

Matoro felt rejuvenated.

He was snowboarding through Ko-Wahi, back on Mata Nui, but now, he was in his full Toa form, the board made of ice he had summoned himself. The cold air whipping by felt spectacular, thrilling, setting his nerves on edge and making his lungs quiver with the urge to whoop with glee and  _ life. _

He saw Kopaka off to his right and behind him, occasionally managing to pull ahead of him, and felt an odd sense of surrealism. Never would he have thought he would end up being a Toa fighting alongside Kopaka someday. 

The feeling of surrealism grew, and he blinked as he noticed Kopaka was flickering between his old Mata form and his Nuva form. What was going on…? He looked at his hand and saw it flickering between wielding a pair of immense claws, and wielding a strong sword. So distracted was he by the illusion that his board hit a rock, and he face-planted hard into the snow…

...then woke up, jolting slightly.

For a minute he panicked, seeing the Ignika, dull and grey, resting on a pile of leaves nearby as he struggled to remember recent events. It was several heart-pounding, panicked minutes before he remembered how his descent through the sea had ended, and he calmed somewhat, though he kept himself wary.

_ Where has Teridax gone…? _

He was at first suspicious of what the Makuta might be doing, considering his current absence, but his logic eventually woke up more and recognized evidence to Teridax’s lack of ill intent. The Makuta had not simply departed after gaining some benefit from Matoro - the Toa felt and looked no different from last night in terms of injuries and exhaustion. The Ignika still had the same amount of color to it as before - Teridax had not drained energy of some sort from it, nor had he simply run off with it and left Matoro on his own, stranded in a strange land. He had not simply killed the Toa, either, which would have been quite simple to do while he was sleeping. 

_ Perhaps we truly do have another chance to save the world… _

He looked at the entrance of the cave in surprise as Teridax stepped back into view, tapping the nearest crystal again to aggravate the rest of the lightstone vein into glowing. Blushing at having been so obviously caught off-guard, Matoro took this as a cue to reignite their small fire, bringing more light and warmth to the cavern.

“I found something for you to eat.” Teridax brought a couple of medium-sized fish into view, unintentionally flinging some water droplets off of his arm; he must have deliberately waded into the water to catch them. “From my knowledge of this region, these are commonly eaten as a source of protein.”

Matoro blinked. “Don’t… you need to eat?”

Teridax chuckled as he came over and sat down on the opposite side of the fire, bringing out some large leaves he had gathered and wrapping the fish in them before putting them on the fire to cook. “Not ‘yet’... I don’t have a stomach right now.” He gestured towards the resting Ignika with his head. “I’ve been simply made of gas in armor for some time now, but my brother is using what energy he can to regenerate my body’s old organic parts safely.” He focused on cooking the fish, flipping the leaf-bundles to have their contents cook evenly. “I will definitely enjoy getting to properly eat again, though. I wasn’t particularly happy when my kind and I ‘evolved’ into our current state. And with any luck, the others will eventually have their own opportunities to revert.”

Matoro nodded in understanding, then noticed that the possessed Maxilos robot’s external armor was cracking into fragments and falling away in some areas. However, where he expected to mostly see mechanical components within those gaps, he saw glints of dark armor.  _ Makuta _ armor. “Some of your regeneration is… already showing through.”

“Hmm?” Teridax looked to the Toa in confusion, then when he was greeted with a gesture towards his head, he blinked thoughtfully and lifted a hand to feel where the armor was falling away. “Well now… that’s going quicker than even I was expecting.” He gave a satisfied smile after a certain whiff of the scent from the food, then brought the bundles over to Matoro, setting them on the ground and unfolding them so each leaf acted as a plate under the fish. “I imagine you haven’t had optimal food throughout your Toahood.”

Matoro almost  _ drooled _ at the smell of the simple meal before him, and barely restrained himself from immediately wolfing it down and ignoring Teridax’s question. “No, I haven’t. None of my team had much to eat during our Toahood. The most meat we got to eat was an occasional cooked lizard, but they were bony, skinny, and tough, or a crustacean or fish that was a bit too slow, but around Voya Nui they always came out rubbery and too hard to chew when cooked. And back in Mahri Nui, we simply had no way to cook anything easily.” He picked up one of the fish and carefully, with all the good manners he could muster through his hunger, took the first bite. It was… surprisingly tender, and had a nice flavor to it. He felt much more relaxed once the warm food started reaching his belly, letting out a content sigh around his next mouthful.

Teridax personally found his blissful expressions from the food endearing and amusing - though concern lurked in the background as it was clear terrible conditions had driven him to be grateful for such a basic dish. 

Eventually, the ice Toa finished eating the first fish, feeling much more alert and excited now that he was well-fed. He looked back over at Teridax in curiosity as a thought struck him. “...you mentioned you had some knowledge of ‘this region’. I take it you know where we are…?”

The Makuta nodded. “Karda Nui - though many also call it ‘The Core.’ Your friends, the Toa Nuva, actually guarded this place for quite some time before their departure to the island your Turaga named after my brother.” He itched away the flaking armor plates some more as he thought of the place’s history. “Originally, their task was to guard and protect the Av-Matoran who live in and around the region’s caverns. However, while my brother was awake, fierce Energy Storms constantly rampaged through this land, causing havoc. It was those same Storms that drove the Toa into their canisters for shelter.” He peered out at the grey “skies” of the cavernous realm. “Now… I don’t see or hear any of the lingering storms. I suppose that means the others must be having a far easier time flying than normal.”

Matoro swallowed the last bite of the second fish. “Others…?”

Teridax nodded. “The other Makuta who I sent to keep watch here. They were supposed to stop your sacrifice if needed, but it seems that in the end, I took care of that myself. Perhaps I can introduce you to them sometime soon.”

Matoro peered out of the cavern as well, thoughtful. “Perhaps…”

•••••••

The Toa Nuva had been traveling for quite some time now. On their journey back to Metru Nui, they had all sensed the Great Spirit’s death, and realized that it would be best if they focused on some means of  _ reviving _ the Great Spirit, then try awakening him later if the first task proved possible. They had entered the city stealthily, trying to get in and get out as fast as they could.

They weren’t expecting  _ Axonn _ to notice and stop them… though with his mask power, it was less surprising than it could have been.

“This way,” Axonn called out over his shoulder to them. He was leading them towards a secure building not far from where he had encountered them.

“We don’t want to cause trouble-“ Gali began.

“I know that,” the Titan said, cutting her off. “And I know that the last thing you want right now is for the Turaga to find out you’ve returned, lest they begin to endlessly lecture you and question you. Be glad I’m going to have a personal talk with you all first, to properly judge whether I  _ should _ march you right up to the Turagas’ offices.” He pressed his palm to a scanning pad by the building’s doorway, then typed a code into the keypad. He pulled the door open. “Head inside.”

A tad nervously, the six Toa did as told, blinking as they noticed that a large portion of the room they entered was occupied by a barred cell. And inside was…

“Brutaka?” Lewa uttered, confused.

The larger Titan was suspended about a meter off of the ground by the shackles and chains inside of the cell, with small devices attached to his mask and neck. He looked up at the Nuva boredly as they entered.

“Why is he here?” Onua asked.

“He’s been kept here by my request,” Axonn explained. “While some thought it foolish to attempt to build trust with him again… I felt that my mask’s power and my…  _ previous _ connection with him would give me plenty of warning if my attempts went south. The Order were the ones who insisted that he remain shackled for a certain amount of time each day.”

“Even after he doomed our efforts on Voya Nui, you would trust him?” Tahu’s armor plates stood on end, making him seem a tad larger to express his anger.

Axonn paused, as if trying to find the best words for his explanation. “He has… changed since we departed that island. Even when he first turned against us, I felt a strange haze over our lifebond. I’m not certain if it was caused by some Zamor fired by the Piraka, or something else… but whatever it was, its influence on him has steadily faded. I have felt his remorse personally.” He moved towards a nearby cabinet in the room, bringing out a thermos before moving into the cell. He unshackled his mate as they watched, and sure enough, Brutaka made no effort to escape, simply accepting the thermos full of soup and gladly drinking it. 

The Toa were speechless. 

Eventually, after making sure his mate was well-fed, Axonn turned to focus back on the Nuva, cocking a brow at them. “I take it that you all felt Mata Nui die, as we did?”

Pohatu nodded. “We were halfway back here when we felt it. We’re still not sure what happened.”

“I have my own suspicions,” Axonn admitted. “The Inika were teleported back here, to Metru Nui’s shores, by some unseen force… all except for Matoro.”

Kopaka blanched. ‘What-?!”

Axonn held up a hand to halt any questions. “If what we saw of the Ignika’s response to Matoro indicates anything, then the Mask likely chose him as its bearer… which, unfortunately, means it would require him to sacrifice his life to save that of Mata Nui. Given the state of the universe, something must have gone wrong when the time came. Whether Matoro failed to make it in time, or hesitated, is still unknown.” 

Pohatu piped up next. “Shouldn’t we search for the Mask, then? Perhaps there’s some other way for us to save the Great Spirit’s life.”

Axonn was about to speak, but his mate spoke first. “There is… at least one other way.” As the Toa diverted their attention to Brutaka, he continued, “I found old archived tablets once, detailing ‘backup’ protocols in case Mata Nui died. Some of the details were missing or eroded by time, and others are evading my memory… but I’m certain the Ignika was needed for them all.”

Gali sat up straighter, hopeful. “That means our next goal should be to retrieve it.”

Brutaka nodded. “I believe your best bet lies in searching through Karda-Nui for it. If the other ice Toa made it most of the way to his goal, you’ll be able to find it not far off from there. As for how you’ll get there…” The larger Titan trailed off, looking to his mate for permission. 

Axonn scrutinized Brutaka for several long, tense minutes. The faint glow of his mask showed he was searching his mate’s intent for any hint of lies or falsehoods. Finally, he nodded, and reached up to remove the devices attached to his mate’s Kanohi Olmak.

The gold-and-blue Titan shuddered in relief, before his mask began to glow, and he opened a portal within the cell. On the other side, they saw a land of luminous caverns, an immense waterfall pouring in from above. “There it is. If your rookie friend didn’t reach the waterfall, the Mask should still be at rest somewhere above it, trapped under Voya Nui.” 

The Nuva all looked between each other before looking at Axonn. “If the Turaga ask after us, tell them where you sent us, and our goal,” Tahu requested. At the Titan’s nod, they all jumped through…

...then yelped as they collided with a familiar Toa of Light at the other end, as he exited his own portal from elsewhere.

“ _ Taka-?! _ ” Tahu yelped as they all landed in a pile of tangled limbs. “Where did you just come from?!”

“Universe jumping… I blame a damaged Olmak belonging to a certain Titan,” Takanuva groaned from where his face was pressed against the ground. 

“We should count ourselves lucky, then… he just sent  _ us _ here as well,” Kopaka explained. “I suppose they would have repaired his mask between then and now.”

The seven Toa all got to their feet and looked around in a mixture of curiosity and caution. They could see villages atop tall rock structures, and the majority felt quite glad they had the ability to summon (or already were wearing) a Kanohi Miru. The waterfall above tumbled into a murky swamp far below, obscured in some areas by fog.

“Do you see the Ignika anywhere down there with your scope?” Pohatu asked his mate.

“No sign of it,” Kopaka replied. “Knowing our luck, some being or Rahi likely found it first and decided to keep it.”

Takanuva summoned a ball of light over his hand and lifted it high to observe a nearby cavern - then paused as he saw glowing crystals spark to life as the light awoke them. “I could probably illuminate caverns from a distance if I lobbed some light at them.” He lifted his hand to aim at one across the swamp from them, then stopped and squinted. “...there’s a campfire of some sort in that cave. Perhaps someone down there can tell us if they saw anything.”

“Good idea.” Tahu switched to his Miru, prompting the others to do the same, save for Taka. “Let’s head over there, but stay alert… if they have the Mask, they might get aggressive defending it.” He lifted off and the others followed close behind, Onua lifting Takanuva by his back armor and carrying him with them.

Kopaka zoomed in with his scope for a closer look as they approached, then blinked, stunned. “I… I see the Ignika. But there’s a Makuta or some other creature right beside it, doing something with it.” He nearly lost his concentration and fell out of the air at the next revelation. “It almost looks… like Makuta Teridax!”

“WHAT?!” Tahu growled, enraged.

“I don’t know how he got his hands on it, or if he harmed Matoro somehow…!”

“Onua, bring me in closer.” Takanuva prepared a much larger light projectile as the earth Toa complied, then as they got into range, he fired it directly at the Makuta’s turned back.

Teridax felt the projectile aimed at him, and turned to try blocking it with his arms, but suddenly a pale figure darted into the line of fire and summoned a wall of mirror-smooth ice, reflecting the light right back at them.

“That’s… that’s Matoro!” Kopaka exclaimed. “But what is he doing protecting  _ Teridax _ ?!”

The missing member of the Inika lowered the ice wall and waved his arms to get their attention, as if he didn’t have it already. “Stop! Stand down and land!” he called out to them.

They did so, and the younger Toa quickly found himself pinned to the wall with one of Kopaka’s blades at his throat. 

“Why did you just try to stop us from hurting Teridax…?” Kopaka asked frigidly, staring at him in a way that made it clear his trust for Matoro was worn thin.

“We were wrong! We were all wrong about his intentions!” Matoro tried to explain.

“Fat chance. You’ve just turned to ally with him since you’re worried about being branded a  _ coward _ , haven’t you?” Tahu had smoke curling off some parts of his armor, a hint at his attempts to hide his temper.

Matoro screwed his eyes shut. “I heard Mata Nui himself beg me to stop before I could sacrifice myself, alright?!”

That got their attention. “You… heard Mata Nui?”

Matoro nodded carefully, trying to avoid pressing his neck any closer to the sword. “I heard the Mask itself speak first, but then a different voice, one I’d never heard before, begged me not to listen to it! That voice, it… it sounded terrified, almost  _ pained _ , even!” 

Kopaka eased some of the pressure applied through his weapon. “And what of Teridax… how did he end up on the scene? How were we ‘wrong’ about his intentions?”

Matoro took a moment to gasp for more air, his voice steadying a little. “He had possessed a Maxilos robot some time before, and followed me into the waterfall. He cried out for me to stop not long after I heard Mata Nui pleading… then wrenched the mask out of my hand and kept me safe from the fall, and made me able to breathe air again. When he said long ago that his brother suffered when awake, he meant it… feeling every sensation in the universe at once was driving Mata Nui insane, and Teridax put him to sleep to spare him from it. It was… only later that he found out his brother was dying. Had I put the Mask on, he would have been trapped and forced to feel all of that forever…!”

Kopaka hesitated for a moment, then let Matoro go, causing the junior Toa to fall to his knees in relief. “And you trust him…?”

“Had he simply wanted the Mask for himself, he had ample opportunity to simply leave with it while I was asleep… or to even kill me in my sleep, for that matter. Yet he did neither.” Matoro finally got back to his feet. “As strange as it may seem… yes. I trust him.”

“Alright…” Kopaka conceded. “Just know you’ll have one Pit of a time getting others to trust him back on Metru Nui.”

Matoro gave a wry smile and chuckle. “I’ve been to the actual Pit and back… I’m pretty sure I can handle some diplomacy.”

Teridax approached cautiously. “...are you done trying to attack me on sight?” More of the Maxilos robot’s helm fell away, revealing the red eyes of the Makuta. 

Tahu crossed his arms, clearly discontent with this turn of events but seeing no other options. “For now…”

The dark being nodded gratefully, before returning to sit by the fire, Matoro following suit. They made sure to keep the Ignika on a pile of fresh leaves between them; ironically, it seemed the Nuva were the ones trusted least in the presence of the Mask now.

Matoro spoke to Teridax all of a sudden, apparently continuing a conversation they’d started before the Nuva had arrived. “You said the leader of the Makuta you sent here is coming to talk with us?”

“Indeed,” Teridax replied. “His name is Krika. He tends to loiter not too far from here, around a little den he’s made himself. He should be arriving any minute to hear the plan.”

Matoro peered up at the skies, squinting at one point in particular. “I think I see him…” He gestured to a bat-winged silhouette against the pale gray cavern’s ceiling as it approached them languidly.

A Makuta with primary colors of white and red soared down towards them, coming in for a landing on four pointed, spine-covered legs before beginning to shapeshift. His hind legs developed much more stable feet, and his front limbs morphed into arms and hands. He crossed the latter limbs as he peered at Teridax. “I heard it’s time for another part of your convoluted plan again?”

“Indeed,” Teridax confirmed, rolling his eyes at the minor insult to his planning. “But first… I’d like you to meet a number of Toa who may likely end up aiding us in our goal. These are the Toa Nuva,” he said as he made a sweeping gesture with his arm towards said Toa team. “And this is Matoro, of the Toa Inika. The one who nearly gave up his life from my mistake.”

The new Makuta nodded politely to the Nuva before extending his hand to greet Matoro, keeping it in a fist as he had likely seen Toa do at some point. “A pleasure to see you’re unharmed.”

Matoro completed the fistbump. “I still occasionally wonder if this is a dream, in all honesty. But unless it proves to be a dream, I plan to keep treating it like reality, and making sure it’s as good as it can be for everyone.”

Krika blinked in surprise, then his expression shifted to approval. “A dedicated young Toa indeed.” He turned to look up at the sky. “The others should be here soon. Ah, here Gorast comes now.”

As the other Makuta arrived one by one to learn the next phase of the plan and meet the assembled Toa, Teridax found himself watching Matoro’s reactions to and interactions with them. Each time, he was considerate and polite when first being introduced, and would steadily grow more interested as he spent time learning about them - unlike the Nuva, who were endlessly wary, though they tried their best to be cordial. His mind also kept returning to when Matoro had jumped in the way of that projectile to defend him, and continued acting in his defense verbally even as a Toa he had respected and looked up to had their blade at his throat, accusing him of being a traitor. All of it was leading to one conclusion.

Matoro would make an excellent ally… or possibly even something greater.


	3. Worried and Watchful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Worries are brewing back home.

Jaller sighed heavily as he and Hahli headed inside for their meal break, the two of them feeling hungry and tired. They almost seemed to be running on autopilot as they headed to pick up some basic pre-made meals that this particular mess hall offered, turning from muscle memory to walk towards the table they had always sat at since returning to Metru Nui. It was in a quieter corner of the hall, tucked away from vision a tad better so they could have some privacy. The moment they sat down, they saw the rest of their team - sans one - heading into the room in a similar fashion, some even yawning as they walked. 

Hewkii was visibly suffering from sore muscles that he’d been over-working. He was tender with every step, careful to make sure he felt the smallest amount of pain possible. He even gripped his food-tray and his thermos gingerly. He set down his food and drink on the table carefully before slumping into his seat with a  _ thud _ , resting his face in his hands for a few minutes and attempting to breathe steadily for a bit. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his armor looked like it could use some proper washing, sand and dirt crusted onto some parts of it. 

Nuparu’s back was clearly bothering him, showing how he’d frequently been hunching over the workbench in his workshop for hours at a time. His eyes had imprint-rings around them from how often he’d worn his workshop goggles, or fallen asleep sitting at his bench so his mask would be pressed against its surface. There were faint singe marks all over the armor of his hands, showing how much he had been slipping up at his work, and how little he was bothering to keep his armor in its best possible shape. He was careful as he sat down in his chair, looking immensely relieved as he finally settled into place.

Kongu was clearly suffering from sleep deprivation, with immense dark circles under his eyes. He seemed ready to halfway drift off several times while thinking over what he wanted to eat, but eventually he jolted back to alertness, took a thermos of some caffeinated drink and a plate of meat-stuffed buns, and headed shakily to his own seat, all but collapsing into it. He had to take a fairly large swig of his drink before he seemed anywhere near alert enough to eat his meal, much less hold a conversation with his team.

Jaller glanced over at Hahli, already knowing she was lacking sleep or rest of any kind herself. A few rust patches had developed on her removable armor from how much she’d been training in the ocean to hone her element, and how much she’d worked to help the Ga-Matoran haul in their nets from the sea. If one looked close enough, they could see her eyes were a bit puffy from crying - there had been plenty of nightmares awaiting her any time she had tried to sleep. Nightmares had awaited all of them after all they had seen in the beginnings of their chaotic Toahood.

His own condition… he felt as if he were barely holding together. His eyelids felt like lead weights every day, his muscles and joints ached from how much he was pushing himself during combat practice, and his nightmares had been particularly nasty.

_ Considering how badly I failed him, maybe I deserve these nightmares… _ he thought to himself.

Kongu finally gathered the energy and waking thought he needed to speak up. “Any news-word of the Nuva…?”

They had heard from the Turaga that the Nuva had made a brief stop back on Metru-Nui’s shores, before heading to some other area called Karda-Nui with Brutaka’s help. Apparently the Turaga themselves had only found out about all of this after it had already happened, since both Titans had remained quiet on the matter until the morning. Supposedly, in Karda Nui they would have a chance of finding clues about the “circumstances of Mata Nui’s death”.

“No news yet,” Jaller admitted wearily. “Though… it’s not surprising. It’s going to take them a while to establish a long-range comm connection with the city.” He paused to take another bite of his own food, then continued. “Karda-Nui is apparently… somewhere ‘below’ Mahri Nui in terms of geography. We know for ourselves how far away Mahri Nui is. And if there’s a lot of water and rocks in the way, since it’s subterranean… any signal would need to be even stronger to get through to us.”

“It’s certainly not alleviating our worries in the meantime…” Hahli murmured. “They were injured just as much as we were during their time on Voya Nui. They probably got even less sleep. And to think, they haven’t even had a proper chance to rest since they left that island…”

“Not like we’ve had much of a chance either…” Hewkii semi-grumbled. “Especially with our nightmares ready to strike.” 

They all knew the nightmares Hewkii meant. They all had the same kinds of nightmares, in droves. And they didn’t have to look far to find hints of the cause: even today, when they were all exhausted, one of them had subconsciously pulled up a sixth chair to the table for the missing member of their team. 

Silence fell over their table for several minutes as they all tried to stamp their worries back down. Finally, Nuparu spoke up. “Has… has anyone gathered the courage to try comming him?”

Jaller held his hand up. “I tried… a few days ago. The only response I got was static, and no connection. Which means either his comm unit is just out of range…”

“...or it’s destroyed, and he shared its fate,” Nuparu finished knowingly, expression grim. “I just wish we knew what  _ happened _ to him…!”

Kongu shakily put a hand on Nuparu’s shoulder, giving it a weak squeeze. “We all wish-desire that, Nuparu. I know it’s one of the biggest reasons  _ I  _ haven’t been able to sleep.”

“Same here,” Hewkii agreed.

Jaller fiddled with one of his utensils, thoughtful. “I… still have hope he survived. I mean, what if it was  _ him _ somehow causing us to turn back into these Inika forms when we returned to land?”

Kongu looked contemplative. “You’ve got a reason-point… this whole shift from aquatic forms back to land-based forms wasn’t likely some automatic thing from us leaving the water. Remember when Matoro briefly went into one of the Mahri Nui air domes? He didn’t change-shift to look more… Inika-ish… Not even slightly.”

“Plus, these gills are something our original Inika forms didn’t have,” Hahli pitched in.

Everyone other than Jaller paused to look at her in confusion. “Wait… gills?”

She nodded, then gestured to some curved pinkish lines on her neck. “We all have them. I noticed them in the mirror one evening and tested them out during swim training… turns out, they work  _ extremely _ well. And switching back to breathing air when I surfaced wasn’t too hard, either.”

Hewkii, Kongu, and Nuparu all peered at each other’s necks, then lifted their hands to touch their own, curiosity piqued despite their weariness. They all jumped a bit in surprise, realizing the gills were fairly sensitive to touch. Kongu lifted the edge of one a tad with his fingertip and shuddered at the weird feeling of air passing through something optimized for water, before promptly removing his hands and trying to get the lingering shivers out of his spine. 

“Like I was saying,” Hahli continued, “Our original Inika forms definitely  _ didn’t  _ have gills. If they had, I wouldn’t have come so close to drowning while trying to chase the Mask of Life into the ocean, back when it fled from us on Voya Nui. Someone or something must have deliberately given us gills.”

“The fact that we suddenly  _ teleported _ back is weird, too...” Nuparu affirmed. “...and it’s strange that Matoro was the only one of our team left behind.”

“You’re right… he must have gotten us to safety somehow.” Jaller was looking a tad haunted by this revelation. Silence settled over them all again as they focused on finishing their meals and drinks, contemplating their icy teammate’s unknown fate. 

Eventually, Kongu stood up, done with his meal and still looking fairly exhausted. “I’d better head out. They need me to keep an eye on a heavy-traffic area of the chutes for a while. There’s been a lot of crash-problems in the area lately.” He walked over to the counter where dirty plates and used trays were gathered, setting his own among the others as he yawned. “I’ll talk to you guys later. Here’s hoping we all get better sleep-rest sometime soon.” He lifted his thermos in a toast to his teammates before gulping down the last bit of drink from it, shuddering at the bitter taste of its final dregs before setting the thermos down and heading out the door.

Nuparu nodded and got to his feet as well, contorting his back until it popped and provided him some amount of relief, his brows relaxing as he sighed. “I need to head out, too. The Archives are getting a tad structurally unstable lately, and I’ve been asked to help repair and reinforce them. You able to help, Hewkii?”

“Sure thing,” Hewkii replied, standing up and reaching out to pick up his dishes as Nuparu did the same.

Jaller held up a hand to stop them. “You two go on ahead to the Archives. Hahli and I will take care of the rest of this,” he assured them.

“Oh… thanks,” Nuparu said, blinking in surprise. 

“I take it you two are going to patrol together?” Hewkii asked.

Hahli nodded. “Yep. Good to have more than one set of eyes keeping watch.” She and Jaller stood up to pick up the four remaining sets of dishes.

“Alright, then. Have fun with that! Hope you rest well once you’re done!” Nuparu called out as he and Hewkii left, waving to their teammates before they were out of sight.

Hahli carefully and neatly stacked the plates and cups before carrying them to the counter, while Jaller focused on pushing in the chairs to take up less room, gathering the silverware, and checking the floor in case they had dropped anything during their meal. There was an exhausted silence between them, resting heavily on the air like a weighted blanket, but they had the shared comfort of their lifebond, and that was enough at a time like this. They could feel that the other was there, know their love still shone, and feel less alone as they faced what the world had in store for them.

Hahli abruptly paused, feeling that Jaller’s end of the bond had gotten stuck on some thought or emotion and noticing the sounds of his movements by the table had ceased. She turned to look, and felt a small, leaden weight settle into her stomach as she saw that he was paused by the sixth chair at the table, the one that had been unused each of the times their team sat together. She set the neat piles of dishes down carefully and walked over to him from behind, gently resting a hand against his back. She already knew the thought that was going to bubble out of Jaller’s end of their connection.

_ “I should have kept him safe…!” _ The words were intertwined with feelings of guilt and remorse, constricting around them like starving snakes around their prey.

She moved the hand at his back to rub gently - a physical reminder of her presence, her support for him.  _ “We did all we could, Jaller. We held those beasts off to give him time he desperately needed, and we fought alongside him and kept him safe on Voya Nui, just as he kept  _ us  _ safe in return.” _

_ “I should have done more…! He was the only one out of the team not used to fighting, I should have kept a closer eye on him…!” _ Her mate’s fingers were clenching around the silverware he held in one hand, the utensils rattling as his whole body trembled. 

She coaxed him to set the utensils down, then stood between him and the table, pulling him into a hug. With their heartlights close to each other, she pulsed deep affection and reassurance to him, lifting a hand to cup his cheek.  _ “You were the best leader we could have hoped for, Jaller, and you still are. You worked to keep every last one of us safe. There was nothing more that  _ anyone  _ could have done in that situation. I doubt even the Nuva would have fared better.” _ She smiled - somewhat tiredly - up at him before giving him a gentle peck on the lips.  _ “I was even looking back at the chronicles of their first ventures as the Mata earlier today, and… couldn’t help but laugh at seeing how much they clashed. Especially Tahu. But  _ you  _ did all you could to keep us together, far better than any of his attempts by leagues.” _

Jaller let out a faint chuckle past his tears at that.  _ “I s-suppose you’re right…” _

She moved her thumb to wipe his tears away.  _ “I’m certain he’s still out there, Jaller. We’ll find him someday.” _

He did his best to bring his emotions back under control, hugging her back.  _ “You’re right… we’ll… we’ll find him. And then we’ll make sure he comes safely home.” _

They finally parted from their embrace, finishing their tidying before heading out the door to begin their patrol. 

Neither they nor their teammates happened to notice a familiar face watching them from across the street, peering out from under the visor on his brown mask.  _ They are worried for their teammate,  _ he noted with a contemplative grin.  _ I am certain Teridax must be responsible for having stopped him from locking the system so it would finally stay working as  _ planned,  _ but perhaps he can be made the perfect scapegoat for the blame of… “Matoro’s” fate… or perhaps not, if he was quick enough to stop the sacrifice entirely, and the wayward Toa is still alive… I shall have to keep an eye on this team. _


	4. Undue Unease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matoro feels uncertain of his mental state, and decides to research explanations.  
> Meanwhile, Teridax finds himself growing more fond of the Toa Inika of ice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m honestly quite surprised that this story has been doing a tad better than Rebirth and Rebellion. I would have thought the main pairing on this fic would be more objectionable to many. Now I’m curious: If you were more eager to read this story than you were to read R&R, why is that?

It was quiet and peaceful in Ko-koro, Matoro felt. There were bells ringing pleasantly in one of the distant temples, and he could hear others passing through the village on their normal rounds, with the snow crunching and creaking under their feet. He was bundled up warmly in a good tunic and scarf - ones Nuju had made for him recently, after the latter insisted his son’s older garments were growing thin in spots - and was focusing now on a simple ice carving of a Mata Nui totem.

Yet no matter how carefully he carved, he repeatedly found more rough patches on the sculpture that needed smoothing out. He swore he had gotten it smoothed out from every possible angle, but there was always another spot to carve. Eventually, he decided that it was smooth enough - the rough patch was on the bottom as it was, and would be hidden as the sculpture sat in the snow - and began trying to carve the face of the simple figurine.

As soon as he chose to ignore the lingering rough patch, an amber tinge fell over every inch of his vision, everything rumbling and growing violent around him. All at once, his surroundings blurred and seemed to melt…

…before he woke to see Teridax leaning over him, shaking him to wake him from the dream, holding one of his wrists. “At ease, young Toa! Calm yourself from your dream!”

Matoro yelled and, briefly forgetting the events that had led to them cooperating with each other, only flailed more, limbs lashing out to try and get himself away from the half-transformed Makuta towering over him, panicking himself even further as he became tangled in the sheets. Startled by the Toa’s yell, Teridax yelped in shock and let go of his wrist to try and dodge back from the flailing legs, only to trip on something and tumble backwards with a _thud_ that rattled the entire hut. By the end of it all, Matoro had wriggled between his sleeping-cot and the wall to feel more safe and calm down… only to feel utterly foolish as his memories caught up to him.

He peered out from his hiding spot at the now-sprawled Makuta, blinking and growing a bit embarrassed as he saw the Ignika facing towards him, its expression managing to show that the still-tired Great Spirit was unimpressed or bemused by the scene he had just witnessed. The ice Toa elected to focus on addressing Teridax instead. “Um… sorry. I… didn’t mean to lash out like that…” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I honestly don’t know what came over me.” Upon closer inspection, he could see that Teridax was showing even more of his true self through the remains of the Maxilos robot: his Mask of Shadows was becoming more and more visible, and claws and fingertips were poking out of the robot’s original digits.

“I’m certain I will recover quite easily,” Teridax assured him, sitting up properly and choosing not to fully stand up quite yet lest more chaos occur. “You were likely still panicked from your dream. Perhaps it was one where you faced me as the monster you once knew me to be?”

Matoro frowned thoughtfully, considering the idea as he recalled his dream. “No… I don’t think you showed up in my dream at all, in fact.” He went to go put on a cloak, feeling a bit chilly in Karda Nui’s strange climate. “I remember I kept trying to carve a Mata Nui stone out of ice. I’m not sure if you ever got to see the retellings of the old fable, but essentially, whenever we told the tale we knew of you and your brother back on Mata Nui, we would use this smooth, simply carved stone to represent him.” He summoned a small amount of ice and shaped it into the described shape, handing it to Teridax so the Makuta could examine it. “I kept trying to make it completely smooth before carving the face, but no matter how hard I tried, it always had a rough patch. Eventually I decided to move on to the face, since the rough patch was somewhere that wouldn’t stand out… and suddenly everything changed color and dissolved, waking me up.”

Teridax made a low noise of concern, looking over the Mata Nui ice-stone in curiosity before reaching out to touch Matoro’s forehead with his bared palm, making the ice Toa jump a little in surprise. The Makuta rested his hand there for a minute or two before tilting his head thoughtfully. “You have no fever, nor are you clammy or sweating… perhaps a strange dream is all it was.” He returned his hand to his side, gesturing with his head to the doorway. “There is food ready and waiting outside. I will return shortly; I have something I need to do.” With that, the Makuta walked away, back in the direction of the waterfall that they had first arrived in.

Matoro watched Teridax’s retreating form for some time before trying to shake the lingering unease out, turning to pick up the Ignika in a bundle of leaves and tuck it into a large inner pocket of his cloak. He could hear the Nuva talking amongst themselves in the distance, and after putting his cot and bedding back in their proper place, he focused on following their voices to the place where they had been frequently gathering to eat and relax.

Soon enough, it came into view: a humble cave carved out of a rocky wall, with a fairly new wooden bridge spanning a gap to allow travelers to reach it on foot. It had a fire-pit set up in it, much like the first cave he and Teridax had sheltered in, and the Nuva were seated in a circle around this fire, talking amiably amongst themselves even if they seemed a tad tense. There were roasted fish on sticks stabbed into the ground around the fire, keeping them well-warmed for consumption.

As Matoro approached, Kopaka looked up, his armor plates flaring up warily as he looked his younger “protégé” over. “Do you have it with you?” he called out in a stage-whisper.

Matoro nodded and pulled open his cloak to show the deep pocket where the Ignika was kept, sitting down among them so they could all see that it was present and unharmed. “He didn’t bother trying to take it before leaving. I’m telling you, I’m all but certain he has no plans to double-cross us.”

“All the same,” Tahu told him, “We’d be able to rest easier at night knowing it was kept on your person rather than his. It may be a bunch of suspicion based on old grudges, but in this case can you really blame us?”

Matoro canted his head, conceding the point. “No, I can’t blame you.” He reached over to take one of the fish for himself, gladly digging in to sate his growling stomach.

It had been a couple of days since the Nuva had arrived in Karda Nui and focused on re-establishing contact with Metru Nui. The Nuva were all still on edge around Teridax, often tensing up whenever he entered their line of sight or hearing, but Matoro couldn’t exactly fault them for it. Teridax had noticed this behavior, but at most, he would simply roll his eyes at their mild paranoia, or seem bemused by it. Occasionally Matoro swore he noticed Teridax altering his posture to seem a tad less threatening where needed, but he had a feeling the Makuta would deny it if asked about it directly.

The rest of the Makuta in Karda Nui were all quite polite and likeable to Matoro. Krika had been the most outgoing towards him from the beginning, and apparently held an interest in Metru Nui that resulted in him listening closely whenever Matoro described the distant city. He had made it clear that he shared Matoro’s bookish tendencies (though that seemed to apply to _all_ of the Makuta), and apparently he, too, was fascinated by Rahi - especially, Matoro noted from some subtext in his words, young Rahi he could nurture. It was a secret Matoro vowed he would keep from the Nuva if possible. And while the Kraata may have terrified himself and others during his time as a Matoran, Matoro soon learned that Makuta found them rather adorable - Krika being no exception to this opinion.

The Nuva were just as wary of the other Makuta as they were of Teridax, if not even more so due to uncertainty whether the others shared their leader’s “morals”. The Makuta, in almost complete opposite, showed deep curiosity about the Nuva now that there was no need to fight them. Gorast would sometimes hover ominously above them to observe them without realizing it was filling them with unease, and the others would often stand close behind the Toa to observe them without announcing their presence, causing dual surprise when the target of their focus noticed them.

The Matoran of Karda-Nui were, unsurprisingly, wary of the Makuta after the latter had been standoffish or tried to stop them interfering with the events of Teridax’s plan. When they saw the Toa Nuva, however, the Matoran had seemed almost gleeful… only for their hopes to be deflated. As it turned out, they had frequently interacted with the Nuva when the latter group had first been staying in Karda-Nui to protect them, and there had been a camaraderie between them all. It was a bit of a nasty shock that the Nuva didn’t remember them, but after some time spent talking, they were made content as they realized that the personalities of the Nuva remained and old friendships could be rebuilt.

The Matoran were also _very_ interested to meet Takanuva. Toa stones were obviously a rarity in their area, so a Toa of Light had not been seen by them in countless decades. He quickly took to entertaining them through displays of his powers, and soon several Matoran would completely stop what they were doing to watch him pass by if given the chance.

Matoro’s thoughts of past days cycled back around to refocus on the matters of the present as he stared at the Ignika tucked into his cloak. His unease at seeing Teridax upon waking up had seemed far too strong to match his recent experiences, and some part of his Toa instinct suggested that perhaps an outside source was to blame. He looked back up to the Toa Nuva, who were all still seated by the fire, and cleared his throat. “To be honest, it almost seems like my instincts are overcompensating for my trust of him.”

Pohatu paused, having been just about to take a bite of a sweet fruit, and looked at Matoro. “How so?”

“Well, as an example, when he woke me up from a dream that was making me thrash around this morning, my instinct was to lash out wildly and scramble away. But the weird thing is, I don’t know why I was flailing around when dreaming to begin with. The dream as I remember it wasn’t violent at all.” He stared at the fire for a few seconds, mulling over his thoughts. “And after I woke up, I started trying to come to my senses, but it felt like I had to all but beat back my paranoia by force. I wasn’t like that when woken up on Voya Nui for patrol - not even the time I mistook one of the others for a Makuta standing over me.”

Gali looked deeply concerned. “Have you considered researching anything that could have influenced your mind while you were on your quest?”

“I was considering it… I just hope that the Matoran here have the right books to show what I’m looking for.” Matoro finished his meal and got back to his feet. “I should probably head to the reading hut to see if they _do_ have an answer.”

Kopaka grinned reassuringly at him. “I’m certain you’ll figure it out at some point. You’ve always been clever like that.” He reached up to squeeze the younger ice Toa’s shoulder in encouragement. “Best of luck.”

“Thank you.” With that, Matoro began walking away through the Matoran village with the Ignika in tow, deeply pondering the issue.

When he reached the book-hut, he took the opportunity to plop down in a seat and consider his prior knowledge first. His mind immediately went to the green Zamor spheres that the Piraka had used on the island of Voya Nui, which had been capable of enslaving the minds of the many Matoran who called the island their home. Their team, still getting an objective in mind at the time, had been surprise-attacked by Vezok using two of those spheres once; they had impacted Matoro’s chest and left seemingly no effect.

 _Could they suddenly be affecting me now…?_ Matoro wondered.

No, that didn’t seem right. In every other case, the effects of even a _single_ Zamor had been immediate. In addition, the effect didn’t entirely make sense for that cause. The Piraka were the only ones who had hit him with green Zamor spheres, yet they were all far away, turned into eels last he knew of them, and unable to give him any form of command as a result. He doubted they would actively try to make him distrust Teridax, either.

He moved to sit at one of the desks in the hut now, eyes scanning the spines of the collection of books the shelves presented before he selected some that might have possessed the information he was looking for. One method of thought-control listed in the first book caught his attention as it mentioned something he had never heard of before… Makuta Queens. Briefly, he wondered if one of the Makuta in Karda Nui would count and might be to blame, but a peek at the chapter on such matters left him slamming that chapter shut with a flustered face and, fortunately, absolute certainty that none of the Makuta he had met qualified as “Queens”. He was about to focus back on the original chapter of his interest before he paused, glanced at his surroundings, and slid a bookmark into the Makuta Queen chapter… for later perusing.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed the books would serve him no better than his memory did when it came to solving his unease, as long hours passed by with no luck. Every time he thought he had found something that might fit his dilemma, some detail would disqualify it. Soon a stack of “rejected” books was building on the desk, casting a long shadow over him as darkness settled over Karda Nui and drowsiness settled over his mind.

•••••••

Teridax finally emerged from under the waterfall as the realm around them darkened, shaking as much water off of himself as he could before stepping onto dry land. His armor shuddered in relief as bits of the external Maxilos plating fragmented and fell away, letting him feel the cool air for himself in a way that he hadn’t been able to in a long time. He used his hand to brush away a few pieces that were still just barely clinging to him, grinning as he saw that his shoulders were showing through along with large portions of his arms and legs.

He teleported back to the stalactite village and looked into the hut where Matoro usually rested, only to blink in surprise as he saw that the Toa was not inside. That was strange… usually, the ice Toa would be relaxing in his cot at this hour. He noticed a Matoran passing by and reached out a hand to halt them. “Excuse me, but have you seen where Matoro went?”

The Matoran blinked at him with a bit of uncertainty before thinking over the question. “Oh. The younger ice Toa? He went over to the book-hut not long after his morning meal.” They lifted their hand to jab their thumb in the direction of said hut, then paused, their expression shifting as if they had realized something. “I don’t remember seeing him come to the midday meal, though…”

Teridax glanced into the hut again, seeing that the Ignika was not on its leaf-pile. “Did he keep the Ignika near himself?”

“That he did. Kept it in his cloak.”

“Thank you.” Teridax nodded gratefully to the Matoran before turning to walk towards the hut in question, noticing its windows were still lit from within. He had to duck a little to fit into the doorway, but paused and chuckled quietly at the endearing sight before him.

Matoro had clearly been reading intently for most of the day, without even bothering to pause for breaks. He was semi-slumped forward in his chair, his head steadily drooping towards the open book in front of him before rising back up to half-rouse himself every five seconds or so. The Makuta could see an occasional shiver run through the Toa’s body as the cold night air reached him while he lacked the energy to keep himself warm, yet even in half-sleep he was too intent on his work to consider the annoyance.

Teridax stepped back outside, deciding that he would make sure Matoro would sleep well even if the latter didn’t see to it himself. He headed over to another nearby hut to find a blanket, putting it inside the doorway of the book-hut before heading towards where the Nuva were enjoying their dinner.

Tahu bristled in alarm at the sight of Teridax approaching, all of his armor on end to make himself seem a less appealingly small target for the Makuta. “Can we help you?”

The Makuta in question held up his hands placatingly. “I mean no harm. I noticed Matoro is practically about to fall asleep sitting up from overworking his mind. I simply came over here to bring him some food to eat before making sure he rested for the night.”

Gali gave Teridax a careful look before her eyes slid to focus on the blanket just within the book-hut’s open doorway. “Why didn’t you just bring him out here so we could serve him food ourselves?”

He gave them all a deadpan look in response. “It seemed to me he would have slumped forward and face-planted into the firepit the moment he was seated if I tried. I doubt you want to explain to the Turaga of ice why his son ended up with visible burns all over his front.”

Lewa gulped and shuddered. “Point clear-taken.”

Onua reached down by one of their seats and pulled out a thermos one of the Matoran had provided them, filling it with some of the soup that was being made over the fire before capping the container and handing it to Teridax. “See how well he likes that. It should be an easier meal to give him in such an exhausted state.”

Teridax smiled gratefully - a sight which seemed to unnerve some of the Toa even more - as he took the container. “Thank you. I’ll make sure he doesn’t neglect his rest.” With that, he headed back to the book-hut, picking up the blanket he’d chosen on the way.

The moment the blanket was first draped over his upper back, Matoro stirred, looking about in confusion. “Need… t’ research…”

Teridax crooned low in his throat to try and encourage the Toa to relax. “No, what you need is to have your dinner and get some sleep.” His stature compared to the Toa allowed him to easily bundle him in the soft blanket and pick him up to carry him back to his cot.

“Dun’ need rest…”

“Yes, you do.”

“Noooo I dun’... yer not my mom. Can’t tell me ish bedtime….”

“Oh really? You want to challenge me that way?” Teridax rolled his eyes, simultaneously amused and exasperated by the Toa’s stubborn nature. “Your mother may not be here right now, but I could easily let him know you neglected yourself this badly when we finally return to Metru-Nui. I’m certain he would have sharp words waiting for you.” He reached down delicately with one hand to put bookmarks into the open books, closing them all. “You can always continue this research of yours in the morning.”

Matoro seemed to settle somewhat as they exited the book-hut and headed into the hut where his cot was located. However, the moment Teridax sat down on the floor, the ice Toa was attempting to squirm away to work again.

“Ah-ah-ah…” Teridax chided. “You’ve just proven to me that I’ll need to keep a close eye on you all night now just to make sure you try to sleep.” He moved the Toa to be in his lap now, loosely circling his arms around him and keeping him against his chest as he reached out to pick up the thermos full of soup. “Drink up. It’s soup for dinner this evening.”

Matoro finally decided to do as told without complaint, eventually starting to drink the soup more eagerly. Afterwards, he was limp against the Makuta, utterly drowsy and exhausted. Teridax had to admit that he watched with some form of enamored fascination as the Toa’s eyes slid closed and his breath evened out into sleep. He all but jumped out of the rest of his Maxilos armor when the Toa made the effort to cuddle even closer, cheek against the Makuta’s heartlight as he purred - a sensation the likes of which he had never felt before.

Just before falling asleep himself, Teridax entertained the wry thought that Matoro had quite the knack for earning a fond position in his heart.


	5. Care and Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matoro has questions. Teridax has answers.

Matoro didn’t think he could get any more comfortable than this.

He was surrounded by soft, cradling warmth as he partially woke from his slumber. Against his ear, there was a rhythmic, steady pulsing that almost seemed to try to drag him back down under the veil of sleep, and he felt sorely tempted to let it do so. Something was casting a shadow over him as well, making him feel pleasantly tucked away and safe. Without thinking, he tried to burrow deeper into the warmth, the dark, and the sound, letting out a faint noise to show he rejected the waking world’s allure for the time being.

The world around him shifted the slightest amount, and he felt a large hand stroking the back of his head. The smaller armor plates there hadn’t settled right for some time, and he shuddered faintly as he felt them finally lay flat in their proper positions. His purr kicked in faintly, and a goofy, sleepy, content grin spread over his features as he remained limp and relaxed, not wanting to leave the comforting embrace he was in.

As that word - “embrace” - flitted through his mind, it occurred to him just what was going on. For him to be in an embrace like this, someone must have been holding him… someone _large._ Someone _Makuta-sized_...

…or, more specifically, _Teridax-sized._

Now much more awake and alert, he tentatively cracked open one eye to peer up at the Makuta in question, blushing upon realizing that his ear had been resting against Teridax’s _heartlight._  “Um… good morning…?” the ice Toa murmured in uncertainty, hoping he hadn’t essentially become dead weight in Teridax’s lap and trapped him in place overnight.

“Good morning,” Teridax replied with a wry chuckle and a smile. “I didn’t dare wake you earlier. From what I’d seen, you truly needed that rest. I’m certainly glad you managed to sleep more calmly than the previous night.”

Matoro carefully began extricating himself from the blanket he now realized he had been bundled in, still flustered from the position in which he had awoken, and yawning as his body roused itself for the day. He went to a nearby cupboard where he knew some packets of tea leaves were stored, and set them up to steep in a small pot of water over an equally small heatstone. He wasn’t hungry yet and thus wasn’t bothering to begin figuring out breakfast, but he felt that he could definitely use a warm drink to start the day right.

Teridax didn’t bother standing up yet, electing instead to stretch while still seated on the floor. The Maxilos armor shifted around the reformed parts of his Makuta body, with more pieces crumbling away from the armor’s edges as he did so. The Makuta’s torso was the main part still concealed, along with joints such as his shoulders. Matoro could see some pieces ready to flake away from the shoulder nearest him, and reached out to brush them aside, getting them taken care of more quickly.

Teridax blinked on seeing them fall to the floor. “Ah… thank you.”

Matoro shrugged with a faint smile, turning to focus on tidying his cot while his tea continued steeping. “It’s no trouble. They looked about ready to fall off as it was.” He detangled the few layers of bedsheets from where they had gotten tightly twisted together. “I _do_ have to wonder what the Nuva must have thought if they saw you holding me like that.”

“I don’t think any of them _did_ see it. I simply walked over to them when I saw you half-asleep, and made it clear that I wanted to help you get proper rest. They were the ones who gave me the soup for your dinner.” Teridax looked around for the thermos that once held said soup and picked it up to examine it a tad more closely.

“They could have still seen me when you carried me to my personal hut, though. It’s so bright here at night, they still could have easily seen you and me that far away from the cookfire.” Matoro focused on putting the pillows back in their places next, hoping the Matoran didn’t mind how much more flat they were from bearing the weight of a Toa’s head.

“Well, none of them came over to confront me about what I was doing, or to keep watch during the night. I guess it wasn’t _too_ strange to them.” The Makuta grinned wryly. “You can always ask them what their opinions were by yourself, you know.”

“I’m already dreading asking…” Matoro groaned. He suddenly paused, a worried expression crossing his features. “I didn’t damage any of the books when I fell asleep on them, did I?”

“No, no, nothing like that. When I bundled you up, I made sure to put bookmarks into the books where you had been reading them, and closed them and stacked them neatly before we left the reading hut. You should be able to resume your reading easily.”

The ice Toa’s shoulders went slack, now free of worried tension. “Thank you for that... “ He finished tucking in the edges of the cot-sheets and the blanket, finally satisfied with the cot itself. As he moved on to tidy up his few possessions - propping up his sword neatly and putting some papers he’d written on into a pile - he occasionally paused, peering up at the doorway as the Nuva passed so he could wave to them. Finally done tidying, he went to the nearest window to pull some fresh leaves off of a nearby plant, tucking them in around the Ignika and removing some older, dried-out ones. “I’ve noticed the Mask seems to be able to draw energy out of living matter I provide it. Hopefully that keeps your brother safe a little longer.”

“Thank you for that. I’m sure he appreciates it just as much as I do.” Teridax canted his head as he watched the Toa bustle about. “What exactly were you researching last night?”

Matoro paused, seemingly to consider his next choice of words. “When you woke me up yesterday morning, and I got freaked out… it felt like my panic was more _lengthy_ than it should have been. Like once I’d gotten my memories and logic back in order for the day, the panic refused to back off and listen to reason. It made me wonder if something was influencing my mind somehow, but when I checked the books they have here, nothing seemed to match.”

The Makuta’s brows furrowed with concern. “Did you discuss it with those other Toa - the Nuva?”

“I did. They weren’t certain what to think of it, either.”

Teridax shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t seem to be anything too serious so far. It may even be fading away, if you’re able to drift to sleep in my presence like you did last night. Perhaps it’s just old instincts taking a while to surrender.”

“I certainly hope it’s something that simple,” Matoro murmured. His tea was finally ready, and he poured himself a cupful, using icy breath to cool it just to the perfect temperature for drinking before taking a small gulp of it.

A knowing grin split the Makuta’s features as he seemed to deliberately time his next statement for maximum effect. “I also noticed you had set aside a bookmark of your own… in the section about Makuta Queens.”

The reaction was immediate as Matoro spluttered, violently spit-taking his tea and nearly dropping his crude cup as he began to cough. Teridax honestly wished he had a working comm-link with a camera at that moment as he reached out to pat the ice Toa’s back and help him calm down, using Quick Healing to ease any pain that might have developed in his throat.

Matoro finally regained his breath, thumping his own chest a few times and clearing his throat before staring at Teridax warily. “I… might have taken a quick… glance at that section?” At Teridax’s amused expression, he blushed and admitted, “ I may have also… bookmarked it to take a better look at it later… just out of academic curiosity, though!”

The Makuta let out a deep, genuine chuckle. “I take it you have many questions about the subject?”

Matoro’s blush deepened, and he hid his mask in his hands as he grudgingly groaned out, “Yes….”

Teridax crossed one of his legs over the other casually, pondering where to begin. “Well… because Rahi are needed all across the Matoran Universe, Makuta would thus need to be widespread to keep Rahi populations large and diverse. At the same time, there would need to be a means to keep them from developing their own schemes that could have endangered my brother’s life… as I unintentionally ended up proving. As you likely saw, Makuta Queens have the ability to keep other Makuta in line, through their Queensong.”

Matoro cocked his head in curiosity. “What does their song sound like…?”

Teridax chuckled. “I couldn’t hope to fully recreate it. There’s a tone to it that only Queens can produce - even with my power over Sonics, it wouldn’t sound quite the same. I can let you hear a close approximation, though.” He reached forward and touched his index fingertips to either side of Matoro’s head, near his ears. Concentrating to make sure only Matoro could hear it, the Makuta produced a deep, thrumming sound that seemed to echo inside his audience’s head.

The Toa shuddered, eyes wide and armor puffed up. “Whoa… and the less powerful Makuta would concede to that call?”

“Or they could be summoned or rallied by it. The only thing that could have a chance to counteract Queensong would be a roar from the matching ‘king’ - the Queen’s mate, or mates if they trined to two Makuta.” Teridax removed his fingers as the sound ended. “Makuta Queens are also the only beings - other than those who are Makuta by origin - who can carry Makuta young, due to the requirement of antidermis in the formation of newborns’ bodies. They can also create new Kraata eggs of any variety, if they concentrate and focus their powers through their hands.”

Matoro blinked. “So, the Rahkshi who you always sent into the villages were…?”

“That batch was created through my laboratory, rather than by a Queen.” Teridax seemed to be ticking off details to list on the ends of his fingers. “A Makuta Queen - save for rare cases - would gain their status when a high-power Makuta gave a particular venomous bite to their lifemate, making them start to transform over time. More frequently than not, the chosen Queen would not have started as a Makuta, and their new status would help cement them as an ambassador between the Makuta and other residents of their territory.”

“Have there ever been cases of multiple Queens in the same area at once?” the ice Toa wondered aloud.

“None in history, but the Great Beings’ notes suggested it was possible, if the Queens negotiated with each other and cooperated. It seemed that one out of the group would unofficially take the ‘lead’.”

“Are Queens rare?”

“Indeed. There haven’t been any in our universe for quite some time, since a decent amount of time before the Cataclysm, in fact. The last one alive was Parukua, Miserix’s Queen. Parukua and his and Miserix’s youngest children were struck with a plague many ages ago, and died of it before a cure could be created.” Teridax was tracing circles on the floor with one of his claws, seemingly lost in the memory of such a terrible loss. “Miserix was never the same. He became emotionally isolated from the rest of us, and it was because of that that he refused to listen to me when I sought his and the others’ aid in freeing my brother. That was the reason I needed to usurp him as the leader of the Brotherhood: had I waited for him to recover from his grief, my brother might have stayed awake under that onslaught.”

Matoro had fallen silent, letting the information sink in as he worked on properly drinking his tea. It was a whole new side of the Makuta species that he had never considered before, and he wondered how much of it the Turaga had known and kept quiet about. He pondered whether he might ever see a Makuta Queen reigning some day, or whether the universe had so long ostracized the Makuta that none would trust them with a lifebond.

Teridax looked out through the open doorway, watching the Matoran milling about. “Shall we go help the Matoran with whatever they’re trying to do?”

Matoro snapped out of his thoughts at the suggestion, nodding. “I think that sounds like a good idea - they’re still trying to get communications established with Metru Nui. We should get something to eat, too.” He stood up from the chair he had sat in, helping pull Teridax to his own feet before they headed out.


	6. Connection, Convergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those in Karda-Nui finally establish contact with Metru Nui... but not all is well in the grand city.

There was a mild tinge of chaos to the Matoran settlement as Teridax and Matoro stepped out of the hut for the morning. The Nuva and several Matoran were either clustered together by a small pillar of stone that was being used as a table, or rushing to and fro as they gathered materials or information they might need. Some Matoran were carrying stone tablets with information on them, while others were carrying items such as small wires or crystals. It was certainly going to be difficult to make breakfast in the midst of all the commotion.

 _That’s what I get for sleeping in,_ Matoro thought to himself.

The Nuva in particular seemed to all be clustered around one device that they had placed on the makeshift table. It looked rather similar to the “hub” style communicators he had sometimes seen in use back in Metru Nui, when a large establishment such as a factory in one district needed a direct line to facilities in another district. Judging by its appearance and their confusion, the device must not have been working.

“You’re certain we have the right power source for it?” Tahu asked, tone showing a hearty dose of disbelief.

“I’m certain. The power source is in the right way, too, we’ve matched up the placement symbols in the casing and everything…” Gali tilted the item carefully in her hands, peering at it critically.

“It’s not a matter of a _dead_ power source, either,” Onua murmured thoughtfully. “We tested it on that other device, and it worked just fine…”

Matoro squinted carefully at the device from where he still stood some distance away, reaching out with his powers to better judge it. He blinked as he realized that it was producing heat within itself, then grinned as he realized what must have been happening. Politely, he stepped through the crowd and nearer to the puzzled Toa team, clearing his throat and drawing their gazes. “Is it alright if I try something with it?”

The Nuva shared a glance before Pohatu shrugged and handed the younger ice Toa the device. “You might have some idea spring to your mind that would have never crossed ours, so go ahead and give it a try.”

“Thank you.” Keeping his movements slow and careful so the Nuva wouldn’t panic, he took out his sword, ever-so-gently touching its tip to a certain point on the device. Using the twined abilities of lightning and cold, he chilled the overheating components to a much more operable temperature, and sent a spark of electricity racing through its circuits, prompting more electricity to follow suit from the battery. At long last, the device sparked to life, and Matoro placed it on the table, leaning against the wall of the nearest hut as the Nuva all gasped and gathered around it. He made sure to keep his powers of cold aimed at it mildly, stopping it from overheating again.

“Amazing… I should have thought to reach out with my senses like that.” Kopaka shook his head, stunned. “I’d noticed a faint pinprick of heat, but I’d thought Tahu’s temper had left a hot spot through his fingertip.” He nodded gratefully at Matoro.

There was a sudden chime as the device made its connection, causing the Nuva to try to appear more prepared and “at attention”, and Matoro to subconsciously duck even further out of the device’s line of sight as it waited for someone on the other end to pick up. As it turned out, it didn’t have to wait long, as Dume suddenly could be heard speaking out of the device, and the Nuva saw his face appear on the screen, peering back at them all with an expression of extreme surprise.

“I was beginning to think this old communicator would never be heard to chime again,” he mused with a tone of wonder. “It’s fantastic to be able to see you all alive and well, though I wish you would have _talked_ to my colleagues and I before rushing off again. How does our fate look, then? Are we as doomed as many fear, or does it seem things are still clinging to a shred of hope?”

The Nuva immediately all silently glanced up to Matoro for some cue, and were shown a “so-so” hand gesture as their fellow Toa tried to get some semblance of a point across.

“It’s… complicated, sir,” Kopaka decided to say. “We’re not certain of all the details ourselves at the moment, but we _want_ to say we have a fighting chance.”

“It would be helpful if you could send someone to help us on our journey home,” Onua chimed in. “We’re all still battle-weary, and recovering from various injuries as best we can. We could also explain things more easily in-person to anyone you send here.”

“That sounds reasonable.” The eldest Turaga stroked his own chin in deep thought. “Many Toa who had once gone semi-rogue or into hiding have come back to the main islands as of late, so we’re not nearly as short on helping hands as we might have been otherwise. I could easily send a standard-size team of Toa, if you wished.”

“Could you send the Inika, sir?” Gali asked.

Dume paused to regard her. “Why them in particular?”

“We’ve work-mingled the most with them back on Voya Nui,” Lewa offered as explanation. “We’d instinct-know how to work with them better-swell than with other team-groups!”  
The fire Turaga regarded them warily, but eventually conceded with a nod. “I’ll send the Inika, then. But be warned - their emotional state is still rather rocky as the fate of their sixth remains unconfirmed.”

“We realize as much, sir,” Tahu said, trying as hard as he could to prevent his eyes from flicking upwards to glance at Matoro and draw Dume’s suspicions even deeper.

Pohatu seemed to have the big idea for an excuse next. “We thought that perhaps focusing on something like this could distract them from that. And, if they’re with us around here… we can help them search.”

“Alright. Keep yourselves _and_ them safe.”  
Kopaka nodded. “I wish we could talk more, but the device is looking possibly ready to overheat again. We’re going to try and find a solution to that when we get a chance, but for now, we’ll need to sign off. We won’t let you down, sir.”  
“See to it that you don’t.” With that, the device went quiet and dim once more.

Matoro let out a long-held breath, his back slowly sliding down the wall of the hut he was leaning against as his shaking legs gave way beneath him. His expression was a bizarre blend of utter relief and deep chagrin, brows simultaneously relaxed and furrowed as his mouth formed a wry smile. A faint chuckle escaped him, sounding both happy and resigned.

“What’s that bizarre expression all about?” Kopaka asked him, internally amused that a Toa of his element could be so emotive.

Matoro let out achuckle again, shaking his head as he peered up at the older Toa team. “My team… is going to have one of two _polar opposite_ reactions when they find out what’s been going on.” He lifted up one hand and held it palm-upward, as if displaying something. “We could be lucky, and they end up being more willing than most to listen to me, due to the trust we’ve built up over our journey…”  Here he held his other hand up in the same pose. “Or they’ll feel that that same trust was horribly ‘betrayed’ when I decided to work with Teridax. It’s a fifty-fifty chance, and all we can do is hope for the best.”

Teridax approached with some breakfast food in hand, having gone to retrieve some for himself and Matoro and heard a fair amount of the conversation on his way back. “Your team’s air Toa has a Mask of Telepathy in his Inika form, doesn’t he?”

Matoro blinked at the mention of his friend’s mask power, pondering the statement as he accepted the freshly-cooked fish Teridax presented to him. “Yes… why?”

“If he looks into your thoughts and mine, he should be able to see for himself what both our motives are, without the ability to doubt them as hearsay.”

The ice Toa blinked in amazement. “That… might just work. He could even pick up on that stuff before we asked him to - I know he’s had trouble controlling his mask power’s tendency to reach out in the past. Who’s to say he won’t catch some stray memory of ours?”

Teridax nodded, smiling as Matoro seemed to catch on to his logic. “I could even explain that the first time you ever worked with me, back in the Pit, was under threat. That could keep them from blaming it on you.”

Matoro’s facial expression suddenly turned utterly deadpan as he stared at the Makuta. “...you _do_ realize that saying that will just make them want to attack you all the more for my sake, right…?”

“...ah… right.” Teridax facepalmed as he realized what he had suggested.

•••••••

All was quiet in the certain Ko-Metru house. Perhaps too quiet…

Nokama was sadly used to it by now, however. She had seen the house every day for some time now, checking up on its lone occupant for said occupant’s own sake. Right now, she took out a special key on her key-ring and entered, peering around. Nobody seemed to be home on the ground floor. It seemed like nobody had been home there for some time now.

She headed for the staircase and padded up it softly, immediately heading for the bedroom door that she knew hid her current patient before knocking on it gently. “Nuju?”

No response, except in that the door swung inwards a tad, revealing that it hadn’t been closed. She pushed it open and peered inside.

Turaga Nuju was simply sitting on his bed, legs crossed, seemingly oblivious to the world around him. The room’s fixtures were all coated with dust and cobwebs, save for the bedsheets, which had had the dust shaken off of them by the force of Nuju standing up or sitting down throughout the day. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot with tears, his staff carelessly tossed to the floor. His shrug and scarf looked like they had been haphazardly thrown on. Right now, the entirety of his focus was aimed at a penguin plush in his hands… a penguin plush whose familiarity brought a pang of sadness to Nokama’s heart.

It was Matoro’s favorite plush, from his infant days.

Nokama carefully entered the room, walking over to stand next to the side of the bed and picking up Nuju’s staff to hang it neatly over the footboard as she went. “Nuju, when was the last time you ate?”

The answer came in harsh birdspeak as Nuju let out a rattling hiss at her. _'_ _Leave me_ alone _. Go away.'_

Nokama huffed. “Nuju, you _need_ to at least have a small amount to eat some time soon. Please…!” She brought out a nutrition bar, having kept a few on her person each day just in case she encountered this very kind of scenario.

 _'I’m fine.'_ Nuju tried to turn so he wouldn’t see her, but she held his shoulder in a firm grip and refused to let him do so.

“Your body likely disagrees. _Eat,_ Nuju. I won’t take no for an answer.” Nokama’s armor stood on end in an effort to make herself seem more imposing as she stared him down.

Nuju turned his own glare upon the nutrition bar, but eventually caved and took it, unwrapping it and biting into it.

Nokama watched him take the bite and swallow, then smiled. “You’re feeling a bit better now, aren’t you?”

 _'Only a little…'_ Nuju grumbled as he finished the bar and was handed some water to drink. He’d seen Nokama’s stubbornness enough to know that he should simply concede and tend to his hunger and thirst when told… at least for today. ' _Has there been any news…?'_ He didn’t specify what kind of news he meant, but then again, he didn’t need to. Anyone who had spoken to him recently would know what the only worry on his mind was.

Nokama was about to answer, but halted herself, weighing the information she had been given by Dume not long ago. The elder fire Turaga had gotten in contact with the Nuva after their arrival in Karda Nui - the most likely place Matoro could have ended up. But if she gave Nuju premature hope, it could be dashed down and lead to greater pain later on.

“...nothing yet.” The lie pained her, but she knew that it might later spare Nuju far greater pain than she felt at that moment.

Immediately, the ice Turaga’s eyes dimmed with dismay and worry, and he focused on the penguin plush again, blind and deaf to the rest of the world.

Nokama felt utterly uncertain what to do, and decided to leave as simply as she could. “I’ll bring you some tea later.” Even as she left the room, she heard no response or movement from her fellow Turaga.

_Please, whatever deity might still be alive… let us hear some good news, for Nuju’s sake if nobody else’s..._


	7. Truth, Trust, and Teridax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Makuta and an ice Toa bond over reading and Rahi.

Matoro had a strong feeling that the book hut was going to become one of his favorite places in the Matoran settlement if they stayed in Karda Nui long enough.

The hut was a quaint one. Like most of the others, it had been made of slabs of stone from the cavern walls that were layered together as bricks and cemented together strongly. There were some windows built into it to facilitate better reading light - certainly more windows than on any other hut.

Inside, wooden bookshelves reached from floor to ceiling, crammed with any books the Matoran had managed to find or purchase in days long past. Every spine, cover, and page was well-worn, having been reread countless times by the residents. The villagers had also worked to make the hut as comfortable as possible, largely through the use of items made from soft plant fibers and dyes. Soft rugs were spread over the floor, blankets were hung from shelves, and pillows and poufs were scattered about.

He was still alarmed by his unease around Teridax from days prior, and wanted to better get to the bottom of the issue. He looked through the shelves again, finding a few volumes that seemed like they would match the subject he sought, and pulled them into his arms before setting them on a nearby table.

His back had been killing him last time, when he was hunched over one of the desks to do his reading. It had certainly provided him a fair amount of unwanted distraction. This time, he thought, he ought to make himself much more comfortable before beginning his search.

He scrutinized the hut and its contents, looking over each and every pouf, and all of the nooks and crannies the little dwelling had to offer. His eyes alit on one target, then more, and he grinned before dragging his chosen prizes to a space between two bookshelves. He arranged one pouf for sitting in, then one for elevating his feet, a pillow for his head to rest against, and blankets to keep himself warm. When he finally settled into it with his chosen books, he was almost entirely hidden in the mass of cozy colors.

The first book he read had details on the many uses of the Kanohi Komau, including famed past users and the feats they’d achieved with them. He looked through, and his eyes caught upon a mention of Onewa. He’d heard countless tales of Onewa’s feats from Onewa himself, having been in the company of all of the Turaga a fair amount. However, this book… seemed to have several tales he had never been told. _How interesting…_

It was just his luck that this one tale managed to distract him from his goal so easily. The breakfast-time chatter faded completely, yet he failed to notice, focused heavily on the words in front of him and picturing the written tales playing out within his own mind.

Teridax peered into the hut after some time, looking confused as to where the Toa had gone. At first, he seemed to believe the hut was empty, not able to see Matoro easily from the doorway. But then he paused, eyes glancing to the empty slots where books had been taken off the shelves, apparently realizing that the person who would have taken them was still using them, and thus still inside. He seemed to judge his own height in comparison to the furniture… then, to Matoro’s immense amusement, _peered under the nearest desk_ to see if he was there.

Matoro ever-so-subtly hid more in his comfy nest, doing his best not to laugh out loud as the large Maxilos-shelled Makuta bent over, head nearly upside down as he tried to contort himself and get a view under the shorter pieces of furniture. He could hear Teridax muttering in bemused confusion as he straightened up again and moved on to the next desk, then to a side table with a lamp on it. Every time, the Makuta would make the full effort of bending over clumsily, then standing back at his full height.

At long last, Teridax noticed him, and blinked before chuckling in his own amusement. “I didn’t even see you there at first. You certainly managed to tuck yourself into a private little corner.”

“It’s comfy.” Matoro grinned up at Teridax before cuddling deeper into the poufs and blankets, causing Teridax to laugh more deeply as he turned to browse the shelved books.

“You seemed quite focused on that book you’re reading,” the Makuta noted with a pleasant smile. “What is it about?”

“Well… originally, I was going to try and research more into what could have caused my weird paranoia.” The ice Toa rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he glanced down at the book in his lap. “But I found tales about one of my mom’s teammates that I hadn’t heard before, and wondered if these Matoran had more information on the Metru that I didn’t know about. So I started reading these stories and got distracted.” He decided to reach into the pile of books he’d selected and start exploring other possibilities, pulling out a different tome.

Teridax finally found a book to read himself, and nodded as if to confirm it to the empty air. He then cleared a space on the floor before lying down with a content sigh, bringing a large pouf over to act as a pillow for his head. “Well, two sets of eyes can cover territory far more quickly than one.” He lifted the book he was holding to show that it was on a similar subject to Matoro’s chosen pile.

“You’re right about that.” Matoro elected to finally emerge from his nest a little, deciding that perhaps it would be more comfy on the floor. He walked over to be next to Teridax, laying down next to him with his head using the Makuta’s torso as a pillow. Teridax seemed startled and unsure what to think of this, but eventually relaxed, even lifting his arm to rest over the Toa’s lap and provide an armrest, leaving them both surprisingly comfortable.

Some tiny, distant corner of Matoro’s mind objected to being so closely cuddled up to the Makuta, but while he felt decently sheepish and flustered, he was still rather content. Teridax had not once tried to hurt or even so much as inconvenience him since they had plummeted into Karda Nui. He had been helpful and immensely kind, in fact; Matoro still remembered the feeling of waking up in the Makuta’s embrace, and not wanting to leave it any time soon.

At last Matoro was done with his current book, and went to put it and some others away on the shelf as he decided whether he should continue researching his strange caution, or give himself a break and read for fun instead. In the middle of sliding the books onto the shelves, he noticed that some of the books were refusing to be pushed all the way back… as if there was something hidden behind them. Angling his head revealed that the item in question was another book that had fallen behind the rest, its title illegible from his current point of view.

_That might be a book that would help me…_

He reached out to get it and began pulling, but found his efforts halted due to the awkward angle. He huffed in annoyance - that wouldn’t do. Carefully, he wriggled further and put more of his torso into the shelf-space, so his head was closer to the wall and his arm was able to angle itself between the wall and the backs of the books.

_Closer… closer… there!_

He grinned in triumph as he managed to pinch the book’s spine between his index finger and thumb. Then, squinting at the title, he noticed it wasn’t the kind of book that would help him at all, but rather, a book on Rahi. He gave a cramped shrug to himself, maneuvering his fingers until he had a stronger grip and could start pulling. _Oh, well. At least I can make it so nobody else has to struggle to reach it._ He moved to start exiting his cramped position - only to simultaneously blanch and madly blush as he realized he was in a rather _compromising_ position.

With _Teridax_ as the best source of help.

He weighed his options, then let out a shaky breath, hoping his voice didn’t betray his nerves by cracking or stuttering. “Um… Teridax?”

“Yes?” He didn’t hear any shifting from behind him, save for the distinct sound of a page being turned. The Makuta apparently hadn’t even looked up from his book… though Matoro couldn’t blame him. Even _he_ would get that focused on a book sometimes.

“I… could use some help.” The Toa hung his head as much as he could in the limited space, his forehead _thunk_ ing against the wall. “...try not to laugh?”

“...what?” He heard Teridax close his book and begin shifting around, grunting a little as he sat up. “Where are-” There was suddenly utter silence…  
Matoro tried to angle his head to peer over his shoulder, but now even that seemed beyond his ability. All the same, he was _certain_ Teridax was staring right at him. He didn’t seem about to _stop_ staring any time soon.

Suddenly, he heard what sounded like air escaping a balloon in a wheezy, unsteady stream. Then there was a snort like a swine Rahi, followed by another, and another. Finally, the Makuta got his vocal chords into gear, and Matoro realized that Teridax was _laughing_. “Are… are you alright?” He seemed barely able to spare the breath to speak. “A-are you stuck…?”

“...yes. Yes, I’m stuck.” The Toa went limp with resignation, tone utterly deadpan as he confirmed his predicament. “Can you help me?”

The Makuta cleared his throat to try and tone down his own laughter. “W-well… um… I’ll try? It’s quite the awkward angle that you’ve gotten yourself into…” He felt Teridax walk across the floor towards the bookshelf and kneel to one side of his legs. “I’ll certainly try to limit any touch to more… appropriate areas?”

“I’d appreciate it…” Matoro was blushing so intensely it felt like his mask would leap off his face to escape the burning in his cheeks.

“Alright. Here we go…” The Makuta maneuvered his hands to the ice Toa’s sides, and took hold…

...only for Matoro to _squeak_ in a high tone and squirm away, every limb tensing and tucking in close to himself.

“Are you alright?!” Teridax retracted his hands, sounding worried that he had hurt the Toa.

“F-fine! Just fine…” Matoro cursed internally as his voice decided to meander around two octaves higher than normal. _Was my Inika form_ always _this slagging ticklish?!_

He suddenly felt a thread from another mind brush up against his own and grow startled… then _curious…_ then _amused_ and _cunning_. He mentally cursed as he realized he had forgotten the Makuta’s ability to read minds. A large finger poked his side with a wiggling motion, and he squeaked again before some laughter escaped, legs kicking as he tried to stop the Makuta’s attempts. “D-don’t do tha-ha-hat!”

“What, this?” Teridax inquired with a snort, poking again and chuckling as he managed to draw more laughter out of the Toa.

“N-no fair!” Matoro couldn’t hold back his laughter any more as the Makuta’s whole hand scrabbled along his side like a large spider, causing his legs to kick pitifully and make the whole bookshelf rattle and wobble alarmingly. “I-I ask for h-help and you do thi-he-he-is?!”

“I may be on the side of good, but we Makuta still-DOH!” The Makuta’s words suddenly cut off as the bookshelf tilted away from the wall and came to an abrupt halt. Then they were replaced by muffled exclamations that Matoro couldn’t even begin to decipher save for their urgent tone. The Toa caught his breath before angling his head around to see what had happened… then felt laughter try to bubble out of his lungs of his own volition.

Some of the books had started sliding off of a higher shelf when it rocked back and forth. To be precise, they had fallen against Teridax’s face, causing him to need to hold still lest the books fall to the floor.   
Matoro felt his cheeks puff up as he tried to hold back his laughter, but the effort turned out to be futile as it escaped in a repeating wheeze. “I… I don’t mean to laugh…! But that’s karma for you!” The laughter was pouring out of him again as he carefully angled his hands to wipe tears from his eyes.

Teridax put the books back in place, a glint visible in his eyes as he peered down at the helpless Toa. A smirk crept over his mask, and he suddenly reached down with _both_ hands to grasp the Toa’s ticklish sides, fingers wriggling for maximum effect. “Oh, it’s _karma_ , is it? I go _out of my way_ to help you…” here he focused his efforts on a particularly fruitful spot, “...and books falling against my face is what I deserve?”

Matoro was _squealing_ with laughter now, not even noticing as some of the Matoran peered into the doorway of the hut in utter confusion. His legs were flailing, eventually finding the bookshelf frame to brace his feet against as he finally struggled free with a _pop,_ book in hand.   
Teridax continued to hold him in place, refusing to let him escape. “Oh, I’m not letting you get away just yet. I need to make certain you _aren’t injured_ , after all.” His efforts doubled at drawing out the Toa’s laughter, causing him to nearly get kicked several times as the Toa flailed. After five minutes, he finally let the Toa go free, by which time they were both so tired out from laughter that Matoro simply rolled to the side, so he was lying on his back on the floor.

“Heh… heh…” The Toa felt his cheeks still aching as he tried to catch his breath. “Th-thanks… for getting me out of that…”  
“Any time, young Toa… any time.” The Makuta took a while to find respite from his own laughter, picking up his book from earlier to resume reading it.

Matoro was staring at the book he’d finally managed to “free” from from behind the bookshelf. It was a book on local Rahi, and after feeling so exhausted from laughter, he decided he didn’t have the mental energy to focus to research more into whatever had been affecting his mind. “I need a break…”  
Teridax craned his head around to see what the Toa was reading. “A book on Rahi? I commend your choice.”

“Thank you! I’ve worked with and been fascinated by Rahi for quite a while. I even learned their language, thanks to my mom. One of the Rahaga taught him, then he taught me in turn when I was old enough to learn.” He angled his own head around to smile “up” at Teridax. He then took on a thoughtful expression. “...what were the intents of the Rahkshi back on the island of Mata Nui? They managed to _kill_ Jaller, if I remember correctly.”

Teridax looked extremely sheepish and embarrassed at the memory. “Ah… that. They were the only Rahkshi-ready Kraata I had at the time, and they were young and impulsive. All they knew was that they had to divert any and all efforts to awaken my brother. Their youth made them get carried away… and they thought the Matoran were a threat as a result.” He looked directly at Matoro to prove the sincerity of his next statement. “Since then, those six have felt extremely remorseful. I’m certain they’d want to try and make things better if given the chance.”

“Well, they just might get that chance soon, once my team get here. They can apologize to Jaller in person. While he might be cautious, he’s far less impulsive than Tahu.”

“HEY!” The aforementioned Toa Nuva yelled indignantly from a nearby hut, apparently taking umbrage at the comment.

“Oh _hush_ , you know it’s true! Your teammates all agree!” Matoro yelled back, not even glancing away to make his voice louder. He then focused back on the conversation with Teridax. “I’m certain that if I could convince the team to trust you, things could patch up between Jaller and the Rahkshi… and, if a miracle happens, between the Rahkshi and Tahu, too. He had some nasty run-ins with them as well.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Here’s hoping your team get here soon.” Teridax focused back on his book, not even reacting as Matoro repositioned himself to use the Makuta’s torso as a pillow again.  
“Here’s hoping indeed,” Matoro mused, looking out of the hut doorway thoughtfully.


	8. Meet and Greet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends finally arrive.

The Inika were currently far less weighed down by their worries than they had been for a long time. This happened to be due to one crucial fact: they had a task to busy themselves with. Right now, they were making preparations to head to Karda Nui and aid the Nuva.

“I still wish we could quick-use the Olmak like they did…” Kongu griped for the umpteenth time.

They didn’t grace the complaint with a response this time, knowing Kongu was simply venting the physical strain of the preparations through his preferred method - vocally. They had heard for themselves that Brutaka’s mask was still damaged from certain activities he and Axonn had partaken in… It still startled them when they saw the difference between the larger Titan’s new behavior and that which they had seen on Voya Nui.

They had managed to find a means of transportation built into the Great Spirit Robot itself, to their luck. An aquatic vessel that was able to transverse the fluids of the Robot’s “spine” was discovered in a hidden chamber below the Archives, with the ability to set its destination to Karda Nui’s dome. Their only worry about the journey was whether any debris had broken through the Robot’s back during the Cataclysm, possibly hindering their path. Now, as they packed the last of the supplies the Nuva might need, they heard the Turaga approach.

“Have you completed the list?” Dume asked them, looking weary after the chaos of recent events. In the face of an uncertain future, the Matoran had become prone to greater unrest, and Dume had been kept on his toes trying to settle their worries.

Jaller nodded. “We just need to put the last of the gathered items into the transport proper.” He noticed that Turaga Nuju was not among the farewell party. “How… how is Nuju doing?”

The rest of the Turaga shared an unhappy look. “Not well,” Nokama admitted. “I’ve had to constantly visit him and insist he have something to eat or drink. He’s barely left his bed, and even more rarely left his room. I elected… not to tell him about the contact with the Nuva, and their strange words. It seems to me that if his hopes were lifted before being dashed all over again, it would bring him greater pain than if he had not believed there was a chance.”

The Inika all nodded in understanding. “We’ll come back here as soon as we can, with definitive news… for better or for worse,” Jaller promised.

“Thank you… We wish you all the best of luck. May you remain safe on your journey.” The Turaga all stepped back to watch their departure.

At last, the Inika all boarded the vessel, bringing in the last of the cargo and choosing their seats. As the door closed and they input the destination they needed, their eyes lingered on the sixth seat built into the central passenger area, their thoughts growing conflicted. Before they knew it, the vessel jolted into motion, its lights blinking on to illuminate the interior properly.

Jaller was the first one to break the silence after several minutes. ‘...do any of you think he made it to safety…?’

The others jumped a little in their seats, having been pulled out of their thoughts abruptly as they looked over at him. ‘I… I hope he did. He didn’t deserve to be thrown into a conflict like this and lose his life,’ Hahli admitted. ‘But I worry, too. If he hesitated, and he has to come back to the city for trial… they’d eat him alive and spit him out into exile. I’m sure of it.’

The whole team shuddered at the thought. ‘Here’s hoping it isn’t that,’ Hewkii muttered. ‘We need to stand with him whatever happens, though. He saved all of our lives…’

There were nods of agreement all around. The transport suddenly jolted, and they let out yelps, clinging to the armrests of their seats a bit more tightly. “Bumpy ride. Looks like we were true-right about the crash-damage,” Kongu noted.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t get any bumpier.” Hahli reached out into the water around them with her powers, sensing any possible obstacles ahead. She felt the transport dodge the next one, seemingly adjusting its protocols to account for any further problems. “Looks like it’ll be a tad smoother now.”

Nuparu had his head bowed, still deeply thinking. “I can’t help but wonder about the words of the Nuva… when they said things were ‘complicated’, and seemed like they almost wanted to talk about something. I’ve been watching the recording of that video comm over and over. They glanced away from the video for a bit, like they needed a cue from someone else.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Jaller mused. “Let’s hope the truth turns out to be in Matoro’s favor.”

The ride became more smooth quite suddenly, their motion feeling like it was now aimed upwards. Hahli was looking around in confusion as faint light seeped through the windows. “There’s water all around us… _glowing_ water…” She leaned out and away from her seat to take a closer sense of their surroundings. “And yet, at the same time… it’s _murky._ ” She blinked as realization hit her. “It almost feels like the waters from the Pit…”

“Well, let’s hope we don’t wind up taking a swim in it. The fewer reminders of that place we encounter, the better.” Jaller braced himself as they felt the transport bob to the surface. They could hear faint voices from above. “Shall we greet whoever awaits us?” He stood up, pushing open the hatch at the top, leading the others out.

There was an immense swamp surrounding them, littered with strange flora that almost seemed… unnatural… Huge pillars of rock protruded from the swamp all across the landscape, dwellings visible atop them. They clustered close together atop the transport, not wanting to fall in and prove the water’s properties the hard way. “Certainly a far cry from the plants of dear-home Le-Wahi,” Kongu aptly noted. “Wonder where that speak-talking’s coming from…”

Jaller looked up to find the source, then gaped. “Are… are those _Matoran?_ ” He lifted his hand to shade his eyes a bit, blinking in amazement. “ _Flying_ Matoran?”

The others looked up, and sure enough, Jaller was right. Three Matoran hovered above them, all of them bearing strange color combinations that matched none of the elements they knew. They seemed to be operating propulsion packs of some variety. Even as the Toa were discussing them, it seemed these strange Matoran were discussing the Toa in turn.

“They don’t look like the other Toa of their element…”

“How did they get here? I’ve never seen a transport like that.”

“There’s only five of them… but why?”

Jaller cupped his hands near his mouth, shouting up to them. “Excuse me? Hello?”

The Matoran all startled and noticed the Toa focusing on them. “Um… hello.”

“Do you happen to know where the Nuva are? We came at their summons. They said they could use our help, and an escort back to Metru Nui,” Hahli explained.

The Matoran looked between each other, now excited as they answered the question with another question, hovering even closer to the group. “Are you…. The delegation sent from Metru Nui? We’ve been waiting for you!”

“We are!” Nuparu gestured to the transport below them. “The Kanohi Olmak that the Nuva used to get here got damaged due to a peculiar situation, so the Turaga insisted we use this transport instead, for our own safety. We also had to gather the supplies we were bringing, and get them into this thing.”

The group above them all whooped with glee, one of them doing happy loops in the air. “We can’t wait to let everyone know you’re here!” They pointed to the top of one of the nearby pillars of stone. “Your friends are in one of the stalactite villages. We can summon some of our fellow villagers to carry all of you up there, with two Matoran to a Toa.”

“Thank you very much for that offer, but Nuparu can probably carry one of us, or at least fly on his own with his mask. It should help reduce the amount of work you all need to put in. Nuparu, think Hewkii’s light enough?” Jaller asked his teammate.

“He should be. I carried him across the Voya Nui chasm, this should be a breeze.” Nuparu took hold of his stone teammate under the arms and hefted him upward. “Yep, no problem. We’ll still need help carrying the supplies we brought up, though.”

The Matoran were summoning small flashes of light, aiming them up at the village they would be flying to. From the village came a series of responding flashes in a rhythmic pattern, and soon three more Matoran forms were airborne, floating down to them. Before the Toa realized it, they were already aloft, the swamp falling away beneath them.

As they were hoisted through the air, the Inika all looked upward, where they could see the unsealed gaps where Voya Nui pressed against the hole at the bottom of its crater. Their spirits sank as their minds wandered to their missing teammate, and the possibilities of his fate. Was his body left there, crushed between the island and the rocks below? Would they have to see it when they went searching for the Ignika?

Hahli’s expression suddenly shifted to sour, her brows furrowing over some issue the others couldn’t discern. “That’s… weird.”

“Something wrong?” Jaller looked over at his mate, able to note a pulse of faint pain over the bond.

“You guys remember those headaches my mask used to give me when we drew near to the Ignika? It feels like I’m getting another one… but it’s much fainter than the old ones started off.” She shook her head a little, as if to try and dispel the pain. “It’s intensifying little by little as we near that village.”

Jaller’s expression turned thoughtful. “Let me know if it gets too painful.”

“I will.” She focused back on the landscape rolling by beneath them.

Before they knew it, they had reached the village edge, focusing on settling their footing on the solid ground as they were set down. They turned to face the Matoran once they felt confident that they could do so without losing their balance and falling off the edge. “Thank you for helping us get here,” the fire Toa told the Matoran. “I… honestly don’t know how we’d have gotten up here without all of you.”

“It was no trouble,” one of the Matoran replied. “We’ll start working on hauling the cargo you brought in just a bit. Your friends should be somewhere in the village - we hope you find them!” With that, the Matoran group descended back towards the transport to figure out how they could carry up the bulky items that awaited them.

The Toa sighed, glad to have reached their goal. They all turned to start walking towards the center of the village… only to freeze at the sight before them.

Walking through the village center was a very familiar robot… or, at least, the majority of that robot. _Makuta Teridax_ was strolling through the center of the village. His form seemed to be emerging from a strange shell that they all too unpleasantly realized was one they had seen before: the remains of the Maxilos robot that they had last seen accompanying Matoro.

All at once, the Inika felt rage boil through their veins and hearts. Their eyes flashed dangerously, and they let out enraged yells as they _charged_ at the figure that all logic screamed must be responsible for the demise of their friend.

“ _YOU!_ ”

“What did you do to him?!”

“STOP RIGHT THERE!”

The Makuta _leapt_ into the air in shock, flailing his limbs as he looked about wildly, then caught sight of the five Toa rushing at him. He seemed about to summon one of his many powers to try and halt them, only for the task to suddenly be completed for him.

The Inika all yelped as they found themselves tackled from the side and pinned to the ground by the very Toa team they had arrived to aid. It took them some time to notice who was preventing their attack, but when they did, they gaped, confused.

“Why are you _protecting_ him?!” Jaller yelled at Tahu, trying to thrash free. “Let us _go!_ He’s got to be responsible for what happened to Matoro!” The younger fire Toa suddenly found his and his teammates’ mouths covered by sheets of ice that muffled their protests. With nobody to pin down, Kopaka was evidently able to use his elemental powers to his advantage.

“All of you, settle down! Stop thrashing and trying to attack him, and we can talk this out _logically_ and _calmly,_ ” Kopaka reasoned. “If you promise to stop yelling, I’ll remove the ice. Okay?”

The five Toa Inika looked at each other in uncertainty, then back to Kopaka, nodding.

“Alright. I’m going to remove the ice now… let’s talk _calmly_.” The ice Toa waved his hand once, and their mouths were back to normal, save for a lingering chill.

Jaller took a deep breath, trying to speak at least a _tad_ more calmly as he looked back up at Teridax. “ _What_ have you done to Matoro?”

Teridax rolled his eyes, scoffing. “I haven’t ‘done’ _anything_ to him. I’m bringing him _breakfast,_ for crying out loud!” He held up a pair of large bottom-feeder swamp fish to prove his point, leaving the younger Toa all surprised that they hadn’t noticed them. “I was taking these over to be cooked for him!”

“... _what…?_ ” Kongu uttered. It seemed it was going to take much more convincing for the Inika to be able to comprehend such an innocent act from the one they believed to be the source of all evil in their universe.

“Let’s… get you all over to a more quiet corner where we can talk,” Gali murmured, beginning to all but _drag_ Hahli over to a nearby firepit-circle. Her teammates quickly followed suit, slinging their respective protegés into sitting positions around the firepit. “Now, do you promise not to attack anyone you see here?”

The Inika tore their gazes away from where they had been watching Teridax cook the fish at another cookfire, focusing on the Nuva. “...we promise… but _only_ if Matoro’s alright,” Jaller countered.

“Oh, for crying out loud, he’s _fine!”_ Gali facepalmed. “Teridax is making his breakfast as we speak! Matoro’s just not woken up for the day yet. He’s not even injured, to our knowledge.”

All of the Inika slumped with sighs of deep relief. “Thank high-spirit Mata Nui…” Kongu muttered. “That’s countless bad-nights’ dreams we can be free of…”

Onua squinted at them curiously, noticing dark circles under their eyes. “...none of you have been sleeping well due to this worry, _have_ you?”

Five heads shook in the negative. “We’ve been running on fumes for…” Hewkii held up his fingers to try to count out the amount of time. “...slag, I’ve _forgotten_ how long it’s been.”

“Here, try having a bit of food. You can’t rebuild your energy if you have nothing to digest.” Kopaka offered them some bundles of berries. “You’ll need some energy to avoid fainting at the explanation of everything, too.”

The Inika all gladly chowed down. “Well, explain-talk away,” Kongu suggested, sounding exhausted beyond his years. “We’ve got nothing else to do but listen.”

Takanuva finally spoke up as he walked over, having been assisting a Matoran elsewhere. “Well… Teridax’s claim that Mata Nui suffered when awake was far more true than we ever thought. He felt everything that anyone and anything within his giant body felt, all at once, in agony. Teridax was trying to stop him from being awakened… but also doesn’t want him dead. He stopped Matoro from completing the sacrifice not just for Mata Nui’s sake, but Matoro’s sake as well. The declining health of his brother was due to his impulsive actions, and he didn’t want an innocent to take the fall for it.”

“Matoro even ear-heard the voice of Mata Nui himself, pleading for him to quick-stop and not wear the Mask,” Lewa affirmed.

“From our understanding, there’s other ways to revive the Great Spirit.” Pohatu stoked the fire a bit. “Ways where he can live among us as a Toa of Life, and not feel that sensory onslaught.”

“...even I have to admit Teridax has been much more amicable,” Tahu grumbled reluctantly. “He’s been… polite. He had lots of chances to steal the Mask, or harm Matoro, or do countless other horrid things… but hasn’t taken the chance. Even the other Makuta that live here have been decently peaceful… if a _bit_ oblivious to personal space.”

Gali smiled at the Toa Inika as they all relaxed. “I’m certain Matoro will be awake and ready to see all of you very soon. Don’t any of you worry.”

•••••••

Matoro groaned as he felt an increase in the amount of noise outside, trying to hide his face under the sheets. When it didn’t help him any, he grumbled a few choice swears under his breath, kicking the blankets away with a yawn and stretch. He had fallen asleep in his cot this time, rather than in Teridax’s embrace. To his chagrin, it seemed the latter option tended to bring his mind _far_ better rest… almost as if his sleep cycle was plotting to embarrass him.

The named Makuta stepped into the hut’s doorway at that moment, smiling at the ice Toa. “Sleep well?”

“Not nearly as well as I could’ve hoped…” Matoro admitted, rubbing his eyes with another yawn. He smiled as he smelled the freshly cooked fish again. “I see you brought breakfast again. Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble. It’s always on the route I take during my daily rounds.” Teridax presented the fish on a large leaf, as usual. “Hope they came out as tasty as the last few times.”

“I’m sure they have.” Matoro took a small starting bite, purring and giving a thumbs-up. He glanced to the window, noticing there was a significant lack of the Nuva’s voices chattering away. Perhaps they were elsewhere this morning… how strange.

As he finished the last bites of his meal - picking the bone clean as all Ko-residents did, to not waste food - he noticed Teridax seemed eager to tell him something. “Is something the matter? You seem… tense.”

Teridax jolted in surprise at the question, focusing back on the ice Toa. “Ah… I wanted to wait until after your meal was done to say it, so you wouldn’t scarf your food down… your team finally arrived, and have been told the truth.”

Matoro _leapt_ off the bed from a mixture of excitement and nerves. “ _WHAT?!_ They’re finally here? I have to go see them!” He sprinted out of the hut so quickly that the rug on the floor was left ruffled and wrinkled. Teridax was left blinking at the spot where the ice Toa had once been… then chuckled, slowly ambling out behind him to watch the chaos unfold.

The Inika all looked up and around as they heard a strange noise. “Is… is someone shout-yelling to us…?” Kongu murmured, looking around wildly.

“ _You’re all finally heeeeeeeereeeeee!_ ”

The five Toa finally spotted their teammate - right as he tackled them all like a Kohlii ball slamming into a goal. “ _YIPE!”_

Teridax bent over in helpless, wheezing laughter as he watched. Sweet merciless heavens… the sound of their _collision_ had even matched the mental image.

After a few minutes, the young Toa team had finally managed to untangle themselves. Jaller looked his long-missing teammate up and down. “You… you really _are_ unharmed. You’re… you’re okay…!”

“Is it all true?” Nuparu asked, looking like he was scarcely daring to hope. “Were… Teridax’s motives really more benevolent than we thought this whole time?”

“All of it’s true!” Matoro exclaimed. “We still have to figure out _how_ to free his brother… but with Teridax finally able to help us, I’m sure we can do it!”

The rest of the Inika all hugged him at once, glad to have not only their teammate back, but their hope as well. They were all teary-eyed by the time they settled down, loosely spaced around the firepit.

“Things haven’t been so peaceful-calm back home,” Kongu admitted. “We’ve all been worried thought-sick over you. We rarely slept. I think I drank caffeine more times than I fell asleep since you’ve been gone-vanished.”

“It started wearing down on our personal activities, too,” Nuparu added. “I think I nearly set my workshop on fire a few times from slip-ups.”

Matoro’s eyes widened, and he immediately looked concerned. “In that case, you all ought to rest up the next chance you get. I don’t want you getting harmed from worry over me…”

“Well, the worry’s no longer a problem, so the sleep should come easy,” Hewkii pointed out. “People back home have been missing you too. You should have seen Kopeke.”

As the six Toa got lost in their conversation and were finally able to catch up with each other, Teridax and a recently arrived Krika watched with amused smiles. “It’s almost like they never parted. They’re inseparable now.” He stroked his chin in amused thought. “They’re worrying over him as much as he’s worrying over them.”

“Indeed,” Teridax noted, watching the ice Toa in particular as he smiled. “Let’s hope that having _two_ entire Toa teams willing to trust us will help get others to follow their example.” His smile turned into a chuckle as he saw Matoro growing more and more at ease.


	9. Feelings and Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teridax and Matoro may be oblivious, but their friends certainly aren’t!

It was true that, for quite a while, the Makuta had had their curiosity piqued by the daily lives of the Toa and Matoran. Since things had become more active in Karda Nui, they had frequently spent their time entertaining this curiosity by watching the latter two parties during their usual routines - a bit too close, to the chagrin of the subjects of their curiosity. But today, they were doing none of that. Instead, they were taking today as a chance to relax.  

Karda Nui had one stalactite that had fallen without taking any of the Matoran villages with it, its top instead crowned with a lumpy mass of stone that was tallest in its center. The mist from the nearby waterfall had steadily eroded away the roughness so that the stalactite was left with smooth, round half-bubbles piled on top that the Makuta all found perfect for lounging around. There were air currents of various temperatures rushing over different parts of the “bubbles”, leaving them able to choose the best conditions for their comfort. If they wanted to end their relaxation and get around to actually doing something, they could simply lazily roll off their perch as they stretched, and spread their wings to happily glide away. However, right now, all of them were perfectly content to leave themselves draped and stretched over the rocks.

The majority of the group of Makuta were all simply following lazier, more languid trains of thought as they yawned and occasionally itched or turned their heads to the side, or stretched their wings to catch all of the lovely air currents they could. Krika, however, was a bit more aware and alert. He had taken a spot near the edge, wings and already-long legs stretched out to their maximum as they caught the best of a warm air current rising up from the plant life of the swamp water far below. His hands were resting one atop the other, pillowed under his chin as he peered down at everything that lay beneath his view. Right now, he was particularly interested in the activities of Teridax - the only Makuta who had elected not to join them that morning.

The Makuta in question had been abuzz with action all morning, teleporting to and fro as he gathered various items. It seemed to Krika that Teridax was trying to improve upon the breakfast he usually brought to Toa Matoro - a suspicion proven as he saw his leader’s gaze repeatedly turn to focus on the sleeping Toa’s hut, its occupant taking up much of his thoughts. The most he could recognize of the food were the normal pair of large fish Teridax always procured and prepared, though the color and origin of the other bowl’s contents left him with some ideas - all of which suggested the senior Makuta had gone to great lengths for the sake of the Toa’s happiness.

Krika’s expression turned into an amused smile as he watched Teridax’s antics, particularly as the latter took great care to not damage the foods with his claws while cleaning them and arranging them just right in their dish. He lifted his head and turned to look over his shoulder at the others who were lounging on the rocks. “It seems our oh-so-great leader has become _smitten_.”

The others opened their eyes a bit wider, lifting their heads or angling them to peer over the edge and see what their pale colleague meant. It didn’t take long for them to notice Teridax’s fussing, all of them snickering or chortling.

“This certainly isn’t the _first_ time he’s acted strange for that ice Toa’s sake, especially compared to how he used to be,” Gorast noted. “I could hear him laughing from halfway across the Swamp when he was ‘helping’ the Toa out of a tight spot earlier… apparently, from what the Matoran saw, he was being utterly _playful._ ” She tilted her head in contemplation as she, too, watched their leader’s strange behavior continue. “It’s like he’s become a completely different person.”

Vamprah’s mental threads connected to them all as he joined the conversation and observation. _‘I must agree. I passed the hut doorway not long after their little playfight… and they were cuddling, for lack of a better word.’_ He sent them all a mental image of what he had seen - Matoro comfortably seated against the Makuta’s side, the two of them reading books as if there was nothing strange about their scenario.

Krika’s amusement deepened, and he chuckled as he watched Teridax head to Matoro’s hut, carefully balancing a dish in each hand as he maneuvered through the Matoran that were going about their normal business. “I have to wonder… is he aware of his own efforts? Or has his subconscious betrayed him, leaving him deeply smitten and none the wiser to how well he’s wrapped around that Toa’s finger?”

Antroz yawned and finally joined the conversation, not even bothering to look down at what the others saw. “If you ask me, I don’t think the _Toa_ even realizes it.”

•••••••

Teridax was quietly humming a Metru-Nui tune to himself as he entered the hut, setting the two dishes of food down on a table. He headed over to start some tea leaves steeping so Matoro would have something warm to drink once awake, his eyes sliding to focus on said Toa’s sleeping form. The ice Toa was heavily tangled in his chosen blankets, only a few parts of his body poking out. His face was almost entirely concealed.

The peaceful moment utterly captured the Makuta’s heart. _What I wouldn’t give for a functioning comm camera right now…_

He smirked as he planned possible ways to wake the ice Toa up. Creeping closer, he gently poked his ‘victim’’s nose, watching for a reaction.

“Mrrrr…..eh….” Matoro pulled back from the touch, face scrunching up in sleepy objection. His hands emerged from under the blankets and came up to hide his face from view, apparently trying to stop any further touches.

Teridax snickered, utterly enamored as he gently stroked the back of the ice Toa’s hands, trying to coax him awake. “It’s time to get up, Toa. I brought you some food.”

This apparently wasn’t enough to earn Matoro’s satisfaction, for the Toa elected to pull his blanket up over his head to hide even more… unwittingly exposing his midriff.

Though he may not have been the source of all evil as some may have thought, he was more than willing to take this devious opportunity. He poked the center of the Toa’s midriff with a finger, still remembering quite well how ticklish Matoro had been before.

The Toa let out a resounding _SQUEAK_ like a Rahi’s toy being harshly trodden on, legs coming up to block any further poking. His head poked halfway out from under the blankets again as he peered up at Teridax with a sleepy, _betrayed_ pout.

The Makuta crossed his arms behind his back innocently and cocked his head at Matoro, taking on an expression of overly polite concern. “Good morning, ice Toa. Are you ready to get up for the day?”

Matoro blinked, considering, before his pouting intensified and he poked his head out more. He stuck out his tongue childishly at Teridax, then ducked back under the blankets, this time covering himself completely.

Teridax chuckled before sighing in mock disappointment. “Such a shame that you feel that way. I even made you some tea, and a special breakfast.”

The ice Toa poked his head out again, alert. “Huh?” His eyes seemed much clearer now as he blinked in curiosity.

The Makuta made sure he was standing between the Toa and the prepared breakfast, so that the Toa couldn’t see what the surprise was without leaving bed. “You’ll need to get out of bed if you want to eat. I don’t want you to spill hot tea into your lap and burn your legs through the soaked blanket.”

Matoro paused to consider his choice, then grumbled, slowly rising out of the bed and the tangled blankets, shivering as the air hit him and his body adjusted to the cooler day.

Teridax grinned, proud of having lured in the Toa’s curiosity. He pulled over the short table that had the food resting on top of it, pouring out a cup of tea for the Toa to drink. “I hope you enjoy it.” He sat behind the Toa so plenty of light would enter the hut.

Matoro blinked, then gaped in awe as the full details of the meal reached his awareness. The smell from the fish was even better than normal, as Teridax had consulted with the local Matoran to gather some decent spices he could add. Around the rim of the second dish, a wooden bowl, the Makuta had arranged crystalline formations of what appeared to be… sugar? He popped one into his mouth to test as their sweet smell reached him, and his purr kicked in faintly without him even realizing, the sugar formation melting delightfully over his tongue.

Behind him, Teridax was watching intently as he leaned against the wall. His armor puffed up in pride, glad to know he was able to make the Toa happy enough to purr. A faint thread of concern lingered in the back of his mind, though, as the Makuta was left wondering how difficult things had been for the Toa if a single sugar crystal was enough to leave him purring.

Matoro suddenly paused as more morning light entered the room, recognizing the sugar-rich fruit that also sat in the bowl. “V-vudumaka fruit?!” He looked back over his shoulder at Teridax. “I…. I recognize these from back home, on Mata Nui and Metru Nui! Every Metru and every Koro had a grove of the trees somewhere!”

Teridax smiled warmly. “I was hoping to give you some kind of food that would make you feel a bit closer to home. Those fruits were made to grow everywhere so that everyone would have a reliable, concentrated form of food.”

Matoro turned back to focus on the bowl of fruit again, picking one of them up and almost letting out a whimper at how ripe it was, his stomach grumbling. He took one slow, careful bite… and seemingly _melted_ backwards, halfway fainting.

“ _Whoa!_ ” Teridax rushed forward, having to carefully catch the toppling Toa before the back of his head had an unpleasant meeting with the floor. “Careful, there. That was a close call.”

The ice Toa set down the fruit and suddenly turned around to hug the Makuta’s chest, hiding his face. He made an attempt to say something, but through the combination of full mouth and hidden face, the words came out as muffled nonsense.

Teridax peered down at the Toa, bemused. “I’m sorry… I… didn’t quite catch that?”

Matoro took that as a cue to chew and swallow, angling his head to be heard. “It’s been so _long_ since I’ve had one of these…! It felt like I was teleported home for a few seconds…!”

Teridax’s expression changed to one of deep concern. “I thought that _every_ island had Vudumaka trees… the Great Beings planned the fruit as a dietary _staple…_ ”

Matoro shook his head. “Voya Nui used to be below the sea, so it didn’t have any on it. And if Mahri Nui had any, they were in the air domes… where we couldn’t go.” Matoro looked at his hands in a bit of embarrassment, twiddling his thumbs. “But then again, Voya Nui and the areas we saw of Mahri Nui didn’t have much of _anything…_ ”

Teridax was now _deeply_ worried. He took a closer look at the ice Toa, noticing more than ever before how _lean_ and _thin_ Matoro was. There were slight signs of improvement spurred by the food he had been gathering for the Toa each day, but it was barely noteworthy.

Matoro noticed his concerned gaze and smiled reassuringly. “Hey, I’ve been doing much better lately! Don’t worry over it.” Even as he said this, one of his shoulders was visibly tense due to some unattended injury from the past.

The Makuta’s expression turned to deadpan disbelief. “Oh, really?” He pointed to the tense shoulder as evidence.

The Toa paused, then slumped, admitting defeat. “Okay… maybe _some_ problems are still letting me know they’re not about to go away…”

Teridax rolled his eyes in exasperated fondness. “Focus on your breakfast. I’ll work on healing your injury.” He moved closer to the Toa and activated his Quick Healing powers, placing a hand on the troublesome shoulder to start repairing the damages.

The time passed in amicable silence as the Toa slowly enjoyed his food and the Makuta focused on each injury in turn. Finally, there was nothing glaringly obvious left to heal, and Teridax stepped back. “I’m going to head over to the waterfall for a while. Please, _try_ not to hide your injuries next time. For your own sake, if nothing else.” The Makuta gave the Toa one last pat of reassurance on the back before heading out of the hut, passing the rest of the Inika on the way out.

Matoro’s teammates all paused on their way into the hut, turning to cast a curious look towards the departing Makuta, then knowing looks at each other. They finally entered the hut as Matoro focused on his breakfast again. Their eyes all widened, the five of them stunned at the extra fare laid out before Matoro that day.

“Did _Teridax_ bring you all that…?” Hewkii asked, incredulous.

“He did!” Matoro replied, cheerfully turning to face them. “I was just as surprised as you are. I’m not about to complain, though.”

Kongu seemed particularly dejected, reminiscing on how his homes had often been close to the Vudumaka groves, leaving him particularly fond of the fruit. He, like the rest of the team, hadn’t eaten or so much as _seen_ one in quite a long time. However, the moment he realized Matoro noticed his dejection, he did all he could to hide it. “Go ahead and keep eating - don’t get distraction-pulled away from breakfast just because of us. You need the food-energy after managing to outswim a sinking island-rock.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m still kind of doubt-stunned that _anybody_ could have strength-managed that. My muscles felt ready to break-tear in two just from the hard-fighting we’d already done.”

Matoro selected a particularly ripe fruit from the bowl, insistently offering it forward. “You deserve one of these just as much as I do. I couldn’t have swum that far if you all hadn’t held back the Barraki.”

“No, no. You need your strength back! I could probably polite-ask Teridax where he got them and quick-get some for myself later!” the air Toa insisted. “I can wait.”

“You don’t _need_ to wait, though!” Matoro offered the fruit forward again. “I insist-”

“I’m fine-!” Kongu tried to push his ice teammate’s extended hand away - then gaped, embarrassed as the push caused the fruit to jump out of Matoro’s loose grip and get stuck in said ice Toa’s mouth as he held it open to speak.

The entire team froze in the same instant, falling silent as they gaped at what had just happened, trying to process what had happened. Kongu seemed to be trying to muster some apology, but the sudden, surreal event had him at a loss for words.

Matoro’s shoulders started bobbing up and down, his nose whistling from his breath due to his blocked mouth - the fruit had managed to get stuck on his _teeth._ Then there were small sounds from his throat, like strange little hiccups, and the others realized their teammate had started helplessly laughing, not at all put off by the accident. Most of his teammates soon ended up swiftly following his example, the strange sound of his laughter warping itself as it found its way around the obstructive fruit causing them to laugh harder, which made him laugh harder, in an endless loop. Kongu was the last to let his laughter escape him, still desperately trying to apologize but only managing gibberish.

As the air Toa’s mouth opened again, Matoro saw an opportunity for retaliation and picked up another fruit, pushing it to be stuck on his teammate’s teeth just like the one stuck on his own. The team’s laughter now doubled, all of them alternating between hunching over and leaning backward as their diaphragms _ached_. Now their green teammate _couldn’t_ refuse the given fruit, since he had essentially taken a bite of it. Eventually, their humor steadily calmed, and the ice and air Toa each focused on eating, a content silence falling between them all.

Jaller’s eyes eventually slid to focus on Matoro as the latter finished his breakfast. “Teridax seems to be doing a lot to make you happy lately.”

“Huh?” Matoro turned from where he had been examining his once-filled bowls of food for any lingering sugar crystals. “What do you mean?”

Hewkii blinked, seemingly stunned. “You seriously _don’t_ _know_ what we’re talking about?” He facepalmed, laughing hysterically. “Oh, sweet Mata Nui, and people thought _I_ was oblivious to _Macku’s_ advances for the longest time…!”

Now the ice Toa was blushing, not sure what to think about the connotations of that statement. “Just _what_ are you insinuating...?”

Jaller rolled his eyes. “He’s gotten you - and nobody else - breakfast almost every day, right?”

“Yes…”

“And he let you fall asleep in his arms, making sure you didn’t strain your back by sleeping hunched over, _right?_ ” Hahli pointed out.

“Yes?”

“ _And_ he let you lay against him while happy-reading?” Kongu pointed out.

“Yes…?”

“And you _essentially_ got into a one-sided _tickle-fight_ with him?” Hewkii continued.

“Yes, now would you get to the _point_ already?!” Matoro seemed utterly exasperated now, impatient and wanting the conversation to accelerate past its current crawl.

“For _frag’s sake_ , Matoro…” Now Nuparu was the one with his face in his hands. “Teridax probably wants to _court you!_ Whether he realizes he’s working his way up to it or not!”

Matoro looked like he would have had a spit-take if he had been drinking anything. “W- _what?_ N-no! I’m sure that’s not it! Teridax… Teridax was probably just being kind out of the goodness of his heart… or saw me as a potential friend! He didn’t exactly have the chance to make many other friends with everyone considering him the ‘source of all evil’ and all that.” The rest of the team took that as their cue to all either bury their faces in their hands or throw their heads back to laugh, leaving their icy teammate utterly confused. “What’s so funny?!”

“Matoro,” Hahli began, “Teridax doesn’t even do that much for any of the _other Makuta,_  and they’ve probably been his friends for quite a while! When’s the last time you saw him cuddling one of them, or holding them as they slept?”

Matoro flushed redder than a Ga-Wahi Gogi berry at that comment. “We weren’t _cuddling!”_

“Oh, really?” Hahli gave him a deadpan look. “Teridax was essentially holding you like an Ash Bear plush, Matoro. If that’s not ‘cuddling’, then what _is_ it? And you didn’t bother denying the fact he held you as you slept.”

The ice Toa opened his mouth as if to try and respond, but only managed to let out several strangled noises before covering his face and grumbling incoherently.

Jaller took full notice of his teammate’s embarrassment, and grinned thoughtfully, fully ready to ceaselessly tease. “You know… I don’t think I ever heard you _complaining_ about those cuddle sessions. I even heard from the Matoran who saw the tickle attack that _you_ were the one who chose to lay against Teridax’s side.” The Captain of the Guard’s grin shifted to a smirk. “Do you deny this?”

Matoro looked down sheepishly, twiddling his thumbs, and could only muster a paper-thin excuse. “Teridax was taking up a lot of the floor… I didn’t have many other options.”

“I’m going to call-shout Kane-Ra dung on that,” Kongu said with a knowing chuckle. “The book hut’s the _largest_ building in this town-village, so there would have been _plenty_ of room. And that excuse - if you could even call it one - doesn’t change-deny the fact that you felt safe-happy enough to _fall asleep_ in his arms.”

Matoro decided that he should simply end the conversation altogether. Pulling the thickest blanket off of his bed, he bundled himself up in it completely, hiding from them as he pouted and made the room a bit chillier in retaliation. “You guys all suck…”

Hahli tried to stifle her chuckles. “We were just poking fun, Matoro. We’ll stop if you want.”

The ice Toa simply responded by extricating his hand from the blanket bundle and making shooing motions at the five of them. “Go away. Shoo.” A quick mental read from Kongu showed that he was simply resigned to considering what they had said, and too flustered to keep the conversation going, so he was “getting back at them” this way.

Their giggles all died down and they stood up to file out of the hut, each of them taking a turn to pat him and receive a swat at their hands for their troubles. “We’ll be around the village if you need us, Matoro,” Jaller told him. “Definitely think on what we pointed out, though.” With that, the team was gone.

Matoro waited until there had been quiet for some time, then peered out. He could hear his team’s voices far away outside, obviously busy with other activities outside. After hearing nobody approaching, he relaxed and untangled himself from the blanket, setting it back down on the bed with noticeable reluctance. Creeping towards the doorway to peek out proved that his teammates were busy helping the local Matoran gather some supplies. Perhaps it would be a good opportunity to talk with Teridax and test their suspicions for himself… discreetly.

He noticed a Matoran passing by and got their attention politely. “Would you happen to know where Makuta Teridax went?”

They paused and blinked at him. “The one you arrived in the village with? Last I saw, he was standing on that ledge over there. The next time I looked over there, he was simply gone. Probably teleported away to do something, like he does when he goes to gather food.” They gestured to the ledge in question, the one that faced the waterfall.

“Thank you.” Matoro nodded his gratitude to the villager before heading over to the ledge to peer over it. Sure enough, Teridax was standing far below, wading around in the shallower swamp waters by the foot of the waterfall. He seemed to be aiming to reach the waterfall itself. Matoro squinted to see what was occuring more clearly, and leant forward - only to yelp and cry out in shock as a bit of the ledge crumbled under him and he fell off, toppling end-over-end through the air.

He immediately thought of the irony of the situation - he had eluded death once in this realm, while falling uncontrollably, and now he was falling to his death again, no salvation in sight. His teammates were on the opposite side of the village and would have no chance to hear his calls of fear, much less come to his aid. He briefly considered using his mask to have his spirit leave his body and not feel the terrible final impact -

Suddenly, everything stopped spinning, or simply spun much more slowly. He felt even the turns of his head going slower than he willed them - then blinked and blushed as he saw Teridax walking over to stand beneath him, arms outstretched and waiting patiently with a knowing grin. The Makuta’s mask had a dim glow to it, suggesting that one of his many powers was in use as the Toa came to a rest delicately in his arms. “What brought you down here to visit me, Toa?”

Matoro let his eyes flinch away from the knowing gaze, aware his blushing was more intense than ever. “Well- uh… gravity, apparently. That, and I wasn’t sure what else to do while my team was busy…” He looked up at Teridax as the Makuta lowered him to stand in the heartlight-high water. “What are _you_ doing down here…?”

“Regaining my antidermis,” Teridax replied simply as he stood closer to the waterfall again. “A fair amount of it was stored on Voya Nui due to the Piraka, and the island’s crash has let those vats crack open and release their contents into the waterfall. I can simply sit in the water and absorb it.” He lowered himself to be almost entirely in the water, relaxed to prove his point… before suddenly his old, draconic wings appeared and flopped into the water, sending a large wave at Matoro.

The ice Toa yelped and promptly regretted it as the algae-laden water splashed into his mouth, the wave knocking him back to be completely submerged under the swamp plants. As he emerged, a large tangle of algae clung to his head like a Vortixx hood-wig gone wrong, curtains of it covering his face and eyes, a lily pad sitting atop it all like a ridiculous hat.  He ever-so-slowly lifted his hands to part the algae curtains, giving Teridax a deadpan look to show he was utterly unimpressed.

Teridax immediately bent over in helpless, wheezing laughter, doing his best to stammer out a falsetto, breathless apology to his unexpected splash-victim. “I... I’m sorry! I hadn’t used my wings in so long, I couldn’t stop them from flopping down…!” He gave up the apology attempt and simply rode the laughter out, the sound echoing loudly enough to easily be heard back up in the Matoran village.

A dangerous glint could be seen in Matoro’s eye as the laughter continued. Taking advantage of the Makuta’s distraction, he summoned a large ice floe to float many dozens of feet above them… then plummet towards the water, shaped to produce the perfect wave of retaliation.

“ _Hey!_ ” The Makuta laughed as he, too, was knocked backwards into the water, quickly getting back to his feet. He summoned two enormous Shadow Hands, proving that the splash-war had truly begun.

As the battle of water was waged below, Krika and the other Makuta watched from the damaged ledge, smiling as the sound of the duo’s laughter reached them. They all shared knowing looks as this seemed to prove that they had been right, and that the ice Toa and the leader of the Makuta were drawing closer together than the two of them knew.


	10. Homebound and Hopeful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling home provides time for two Toa to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, finally got this chapter done. It’s a bit shorter, but I’ve shaken off Writer’s Block - for now, at least!

The transport was considerably more crowded for the departure trip from Karda Nui than it had been upon arrival. This was not _too_ surprising, considering that this time it would have eight extra Toa and several Makuta added to its list of passengers.

Matoro sighed with a relieved smile as he sat down in one of the transport seats, his purr trickling out for a few moments as he leaned his head back against the cushioned headrest. “I have to admit… even though they were the best we could hope for at the time, the pillows back in that village were _definitely_ a bit lacking. Especially compared to something like this.” His team and the Nuva all let out sounds of agreement, settling into their own seats with their own exclamations of relief.

Teridax chuckled, looking over at Matoro from where he was anchoring himself to a cushioned area of floor and wall, as if he were cargo. “At least you didn’t have stone walls as your only choice for resting your head due to none of the beds fitting you.” The comment earned a raspberry blown his way by the ice Toa, which only caused the Makuta to chuckle more.

At last everyone was seated. The Inika were gathered in six central-aisle seats, the Nuva taking up the rest of the aisle and arranged so Kopaka was next to Matoro. The Makuta all ranged between using other unoccupied seats, or anchoring themselves with the cargo straps like Teridax had. The Ignika was kept in Matoro’s lap, bundled in some large, flexible leaves from the swamp in Karda-Nui. Before long, they were away, and the twelve Toa all let out sighs of relief, grinning with excitement at the idea of finally returning home for a slice of peace and quiet - however diet-sized that “slice” may have ended up being.

Matoro peered down at the Ignika where it rested in his lap, not even registering the feeling of the transport making its way around the debris and obstacles of the robot’s spinal column. He could see through a small gap in the leaf-bundle that the Mask of Life was currently favoring a shade between gold and silver, but it had faint warmth emanating from it, which left him feeling much more at ease. His thoughts wandered to the places he was approaching and departing. The simultaneous simplicity and confusion of their days spent in Karda Nui, where everything was new but there was little change once all was learned, started to appeal to him. He already knew that the majority of Metru Nui would be crowded and noisy and require quick thinking of them all… yet, at the same time, he also knew that Metru Nui included the places - and several people - that he considered “home”.

 _And hey,_ he thought to himself, _it’s not like the noise is exactly a problem in the Ko district… I just hope I’m still welcomed there. And that… Mom’s not disappointed._

Kopaka looked over at the younger Toa next to him, pausing to take note of his conflicted, thoughtful expression, his scope whirring to better analyze. After a minute or so, he spoke up. “Something on your mind?”

“Hm?” Matoro looked up at his possible mentor, having to take a minute to brush aside his previous thoughts and figure out what was inquired. “Ah… just thinking of how much things already have and are going to change, and… admittedly, worrying a bit about what might await me back home. I didn’t exactly ‘succeed’ at our original goal… and I’m hoping it doesn’t strain things with Mom.”

Kopaka gave Matoro a thousand-yard stare, as if he had spoken gibberish. “Things growing strained between you and Nuju? The day that becomes possible will be the day Mata Nui rolls over in his sleep.” Kopaka looked down to his own hands, tracing a scar from a rare time when he’d fumbled his own swords. “I will admit, I contacted Metru Nui again to check on how the Turaga were all doing. Nuju… he’s fraught with worry over you. He’s been reluctant to eat or even sleep, to the point Nokama’s doing welfare checks on him routinely.”

Matoro blanched, an impressive feat for one whose mask already matched the hue of snow. “You’re serious?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Kopaka looked back at him directly. “I told Dume to have Nuju be made to welcome our return with the others. Hopefully he’ll be brought back to his usual mental state upon seeing you.”

Matoro looked at the floor of the transport, fingers gripping the Ignika’s leaf-bundle more tightly. “Hopefully…” He now felt even more deeply concerned than he had before Kopaka had spoken to him. Pulling back some leaves that had covered the top of the Ignika, he peered down at his reflection in the mask’s surface. He had changed so much since his Matoran days… would Nuju still be able to recognize him in this form?

A few seats away, Kongu suddenly perked up in his seat, his mask faintly glowing as its powers stirred. The air Toa’s brows furrowed in confusion, then worry as he looked over at Kopaka. He sent an idea for a new train of conversation that would be less troubling for his teammate, and once their gazes met, he nodded to Kopaka in insistence.

Kopaka nodded back, before focusing back on Matoro with a faint smile. “It’s going to be interesting when we get back. I’m still getting used to not being the only ice Toa around. You’ll even have a lighter patrol schedule than I ever did, since we’ll more than likely be splitting duties once we achieve some form of peace.”

Matoro broke out of his thoughts and returned to the conversation with a chuckle. “I’ll have to see whether or not they station me as some permanent guard to the Ignika to keep it from lashing out, first. But… maybe once Mata Nui finally has his body back, you and I can work together to keep Ko-Metru safe. For all we know, we may even be some of the people training the Great Spirit to defend himself, or even how to live amongst society again.”

The two ice Toa chuckled together, imagining having to lead the long-revered Mata Nui around the city as he caught up on all the things he had missed and been denied. For all they knew, things as simple as the sounds of rain and thunder could have been new to him.

Kopaka’s innocent grin suddenly morphed into a knowing, joking smirk as he cast aside their verbal conversation in favor of talking over the comms. ‘You know… your choice of home within the district could end up being rather strange to most of your neighbors.’

Matoro immediately grew wary at his mentor’s tone and tactics, casting him a decidedly strange look. ‘What exactly do you mean…?’

Another chuckle escaped the more seasoned Toa. ‘There were a lot of rumors circling through Karda-Nui about you. Many of the Matoran noticed that you and Teridax were getting closer than most would have expected. I wonder… if you might end up living somewhere where your shadowy suitor feels equally comfortable.’

Matoro blinked a few times, mind trying to catch the threads of what Kopaka was insinuating. Then he gaped and elected to stick his tongue out indignantly at his conversation partner, before eventually slouching and sighing in resignation. ‘...I’m never going to be able to hide my interest, am I?’

‘Not a chance,’ Kopaka confirmed with a nod. ‘I have to admit, even the other Makuta seemed to be gossiping about it amongst themselves whenever they lounged around.’

Another sigh escaped the younger Toa, before he admitted defeat. ‘Alright… I’ll admit it. I’ve been thinking of trying courtship with Teridax. It’s just… I’m still gathering my courage, and waiting a bit to make sure I’m certain in my decision. Mom always made it clear I should be careful and thoughtful about these things before rushing ahead too blindly.’

The elder of the two chuckled again, shaking his head in amusement. ‘I can’t blame you. Considering how utterly strange this whole situation would seem to someone who hasn’t gotten the full story, you can take all the time you want. However… I want to let you know that I’ve seen signs that suggest Teridax might return the attraction and interest.’

Matoro blushed faintly and looked away in the hopes it wouldn’t be obvious. He was immensely glad that most if not all of the folks around them were too occupied with other conversations and thoughts to notice his lack of composure.

After a short while, everyone looked around, sensing that they were starting to move along an incline. “I think we’re getting closer to the end of the transport tube,” Tahu said, voicing the near-unanimous opinion and drawing everyone’s focus. “We’re almost home.” Only a little while later, the transport completely slowed to a stop, feeling less pressurized as it breached the surface of the pool in the Archives and was no longer surrounded entirely by water.

Matoro took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly, appearing to be trembling as he looked at the vehicle’s exit. “We… we just have a few steps left before we’ll be properly back in Metru Nui… and just a short walk after that to be properly welcomed home…!” He stood up along with the rest of them - then they all yelped a little as something under the transport automatically began lifting it higher, toward one of the central plazas. “I’m guessing nobody was expecting this part?”

“Not at all,” Nuparu replied, looking as if he felt a mixture of curiosity and delight. “I guess this is a mechanism that had gotten stuck, and loosened up while we were gone.” Once again, the vehicle stopped, the chattering of large crowds of citizens reaching them as people came closer to inspect the new arrival. After a few minutes with no more motion, the Toa all filed out, Matoro politely waiting to let a few of them exit first.

The moment he stepped out, he was bombarded with the familiar stimuli of his home. The white noise of the crowds pressed in as it always had, smells from shops and eateries wafting pleasantly on the air. The buildings, the sky… they were all as he remembered them. Perhaps it was his new Toa form talking, but he felt the need to protect it more than ever before.

Yes. Yes, keep the city safe from the Makuta.

_Wait… what?!_

Matoro paused, shaking his head as he tried to figure out what had just happened. That… hadn’t been his own thought. Yet somehow… somehow that priority had wisped its way into his head, before vanishing without a trace upon his suspicion baring its fangs.

_What just happened…?_

His thoughts were now diverted again, this time by the sound of slow, cautious footsteps approaching him from the side, almost as if the source were fearful of drawing too near. Paired with those footsteps was the faint clinking of the bottom of a Turaga’s staff. At last there came a voice, quiet and hoarse as if it had barely been used any time recently, much less to form the sounds of Matoran Universe Common, and weak as its owner struggled to believe the sight before him. “Matoro? ...Dove…?”

Matoro froze, then turned his head to look to his right. There, staring at him with eyes that brimmed with more tears than one could fathom, was Turaga Nuju.


	11. A Reunion, Some Research, and Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother and son are reunited, and suspicions are confirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SO sorry for how long this chapter took. Crazy life events kept getting in the way, hyperfixations kept shifting, and every time I thought I had sat down for the writing session that would finish this chapter, it just. Kept. Getting. LONGER.

The square had fallen  _ utterly _ silent and still. Only the fact that nobody had suddenly fainted stood as proof that anybody was remembering to breathe despite their shock. 

One Toa Inika and one Turaga felt that breathing had suddenly become much more difficult for them than it was for any of the countless people watching them with anticipation. Matoro and Nuju were frozen, staring at each other as they struggled to wade through their chaotic emotions and think of what they could possibly say or do. Even blinking had become an abandoned duty as they struggled to accept the fact that they stood before each other at last. The familial bond that connected their souls and left them aware of the other’s state, previously twisted shut by the distance between them, was opening again, their inner conflict trickling through to each other.

After a long stretch of such silence and indecision, Matoro took a deep, bracing breath and a step forward. “Mom… I-“

Almost too suddenly for anyone to comprehend, there was a sudden blur of motion, followed by a yelp. Nuju had used his mask to propel himself towards his son as quickly as he could, latching onto him in a tight, terrified hug that left the Turaga’s feet dangling off the ground. The tackle-hug was enough to knock the ice Toa onto his rear, but the pain was ignored as he felt Nuju trembling. 

“Do… do you realize how  _ terrified _ I was…?!” Nuju rasped, still struggling through his best attempt at speaking Common. “I… I thought that I had  _ lost  _ you!” He weakly thudded a fist against Matoro’s chest in a half-hearted attempt to reprimand him for causing such a scare. “I-it was already bad enough losing your father!”

Matoro had to pause and take a minute to process how much his mother had been grieving, able to feel the backwash of it pouring over the reopened bond. He soon felt his own throat tightening as he hugged tightly back with one arm, the other making sure the Ignika was far enough from Nuju to not curse him. “I’m sorry…! I’m so sorry I didn’t come home sooner…!”

“You’re home now… you’re home…” The bond quavered every time Nuju spoke those words, a testament to his terrified, lingering uncertainty of their truth. But at last the quavers were no more, and Nuju’s trembling eased.

After some time, the other Turaga finally came to their senses, brusquely shooing away any rubberneckers who were liable to break the peace of the moment. There were plenty of grumblings and glances over shoulders, but eventually all were cleared away with the aid of the Nuva and Inika. 

Nuju finally took a steadying breath and a proper look at his transformed son. “You… you’ve grown so much, haven’t you?” He gave a slightly hysterical laugh. “I can’t call you ‘little dove’ any more…”

Matoro gave a wry roll of his eyes past their watering. “I’m not sure whether to be relieved or saddened by that…” 

His mother chuckled. “I still remember your occasional protests that you’d outgrown that nickname before you left. Now I can see you really have… for the ‘little’ part, at least.” Nuju’s expression suddenly turned worried again. “When your team suddenly appeared back here without you… it terrified all of us. What happened?” He caught a glimpse of the legendary Kanohi his son held, and blinked. “And how is the Ignika still silver instead of black?”

Now Matoro seemed sheepish, glancing cautiously towards the transport they’d arrived in. It was shifting around a bit, as if there were still some passengers inside, wanting out. “Before I answer that, we’re going to need you and all of the other Turaga to promise to stay calm, and the other Toa are going to need to form a protective blockade, to make sure the Matoran don’t panic too much.”

The Turaga gave his son a confused and slightly suspicious look. It honestly reminded Matoro a bit of the time he had snuck an injured Muaka into the village to nurse it back to health and release it back to the wild, only for Nuju to start catching on. The familiarity proved to be true as Nuju asked, “You didn’t bring home a dangerous Rahi again, did you?”

“Well… not  _ quite?” _ Matoro weighed his options before tentatively opening the bond a bit wider to let Nuju see what had transpired and who awaited in the transport.

The ice Turaga’s brows furrowed in confusion before shooting upwards in stunned shock. His eyes flicked between his son and the transport a few times in contemplation before he let his shoulders go slack. “Alright…  I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing. Let’s just hope Matau doesn’t loudly blurt it out when I comm all of them.” He turned his eyes back to the others, and Matoro followed his example, able to sense that it would be worth it to watch their reactions.

As if on cue, all of their eyes widened - even Dume’s. Matau, unable to contain his shock, opened his mouth to reflexively blurt out the news just as Nuju had predicted. Luckily, Vakama and Nokama put a quick stop to that danger, each clapping a hand over their Le trinemate’s mouth and giving panicked shakes of their heads to dissuade him. It eventually did the trick, and Matau settled down, now simply looking as freaked-out as the  _ rest _ of the Turaga. 

The Nuva and the other Inika had eventually managed to clear away the crowds from the area, forming a blockade all the way to the side entrance of the Colosseum. Once the coast was clear, and any view of the route was obscured as necessary, they allowed the Makuta to exit the transport.

Teridax was the first to exit into the open air, pausing to duck back a bit and blink so that his eyes had the chance to adjust. He gave a look around at the buildings, then shrugged. Apparently not much had changed since his disguised reign over the city. He flared out his wings and let himself enjoy the chance to stretch them, but was quick to distance himself from the vehicle, leaving the rest of the Makuta with the opportunity to step out. Once he was done allowing himself a good stretch, Teridax folded his wings primly at his back to make himself seem less threatening, even going so far as to tuck the thumbs of his wings into small nooks of his shoulder armor. 

The rest of the Makuta were quicker to emerge, all of them peering around in earnest curiosity as they shouldered the small bundles of belongings and trinkets they’d brought with them. Their gazes all found the Colosseum at nearly the same time, their eyes widening as they found themselves somewhere on the spectrum between surprised, amazed, and impressed. Matoro found himself unable to suppress a smile at the sight and snuck a quick picture with his comm camera before they all slunk their way out of the transport. 

The Turaga, minus Nuju, all seemed  _ extremely  _ on edge at the sight of their visitors. Matoro couldn’t exactly blame them. They didn’t have the ability to see his memories and base any trust of the Makuta on concrete evidence. Dume in particular seemed very taken aback by the sight of Teridax. The latter Makuta, to his credit, noticed the eldest Turaga’s discomfort and ducked his head to show respect as best he could, clearly apologetic for the time he had to masquerade as him.

At last they found themselves proceeding towards the Colosseum, Matoro allowing himself to breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that things were progressing so well. He glanced around the empty streets and commed his team and the Nuva. ‘Is everything okay? Have you cleared everyone away?’

‘Looks like we’re all clear,’ Jaller replied, followed by a variety of replies from the others.

‘Any trouble?’

‘Only a few Po-Matoran,’ Pohatu replied. ‘They were oddly adamant about not leaving, almost like their stubbornness was bouncing between them and kept building, but eventually I convinced them. I’m going to keep an eye out for them, though. They calmed down eerily fast, and I want to make sure they’re not up to something odd.’ 

‘Good idea. Better to err on the side of caution when things have so much potential to get heated.’ Matoro took another look at the Makuta, making sure they were all present and accounted for as they stepped through the side entrance of the Colosseum. He had been the one to first extend his trust to them, so he would make absolutely sure nothing went wrong if he could help it. 

Now they had to work on organizing groups to take the Colosseum lifts up. Matoro, wanting to still keep an eye on things, went into the same lift as the Makuta, Nuju managing to follow to keep an eye on his son. With eight winged Makuta, a Toa, a nervous Kanohi, and one Turaga in the same lift, it was a bit cramped, but the ride was short enough that they spilled out into the meeting room before enduring any major discomfort. 

Dume heaved an immense, weary sigh as they all gathered around a large table in the meeting room they’d been sent to. “Alright… alright… it’s time we get some facts straight, and sort things out. Firstly, Matoro, may we see the Ignika?”

Matoro nodded and carefully set the mask down in front of himself on the table, pulling back some of the leaves bundled around it so it could be seen more easily by all present. “Here it is. Safe, accounted for, and somewhat calm as long as I stay near.”

Dume nodded, obviously relieved, and allowed himself the faintest quirk of a smile. “Excellent. It’s good to be certain of one good thing, at least.”

A different door to the meeting room suddenly opened, Axonn and Brutaka stepping in together. “You summoned us, Turag-?” The taller titan’s words and motions halted as he noticed the collection of Makuta in the room, his brows furrowing. The shorter just rolled his eyes, his mask having likely alerted him to the presence of their unusual guests before he had even entered the room.

The crimson Turaga turned to face them, expression serious. “It seems we may have been greatly misinformed about the true motives and goals of the Makuta. I was hoping your mask might be able to more solidly confirm whether or not we could trust them.” Dume turned back to face Teridax. “No offense meant… I simply need to be certain, for the citizens’ sake.”

Teridax actually looked rather pleased. “No offense taken, either. I’m simply glad we’ll have this as a means of quelling any doubt. The sooner tensions ease and everything is understood, the sooner we can help my brother.”

Axonn’s mask had glowed during Teridax’s words, and he furrowed his brows in intrigue. “No word of  _ that _ was a lie…” He and Brutaka took guard positions to either side of the seats of the Turaga. “Continue.”

Teridax cleared his throat before beginning. “My brother was not originally meant to merely be a consciousness for the immense robot we all inhabit. The fact that he was forced to become such was a result of our creators’ ego blinding them to the limits of their capabilities and my brother’s well-being. Simply put, the most apt description for his old form would have been ‘a Toa of life’.” He summoned the illusion of Mata Nui’s old form and had it hover just above his palm, letting the Turaga see the Great Spirit as he would have wished to be. “He was content like that, and the robot was able to still function and be controlled by him in this state. But the Great Beings decided they had to improve something that was already perfect to everyone else… and in the process, ruined it. When he woke up with his consciousness trapped in the behemoth robot… knowledge of every speck of existence within him poured into his mind and drove him mad under the onslaught.” He suddenly closed his hand and drew it close to his chest, as if hoping that he could protect the illusion of his brother from the harsh world around him, and by doing so protect the real Mata Nui. “We are siblings. When I heard him screaming out across the familial bond for me to help him, to do  _ something, anything _ to stop the pain… I panicked. I only meant to make him sleep until I could free him, so he would not have to endure any further torture. I did not mean for him to begin dying.”

Axonn now looked bewildered. “Still no lies…” 

Dume hummed in thought, looking unsure whether to be pleased that they could trust the Makuta, or disturbed that so much of what he had “known” had been a lie. “I see…” His eyes turned to Matoro. “Might I ask… what prompted you to start trusting him, Matoro?”

Matoro closed his eyes, considering how to phrase his next words, then decided to simply be blunt. “Hearing Mata Nui pleading for me not to put on the mask certainly helped Teridax’s case.”

All seven of the Turaga jolted in their seats, as did both Titans. “You heard the voice of Mata Nui?!”

“That I did.” The ice Toa inclined his head towards Kongu in indication, and the latter nodded before activating his mask and letting all of them see and hear the needed memory. By the time it had faded away, all of the recipients looked utterly shaken. 

Dume was the first to shake off his utter shock and begin to speak. “Al… alright… We can say for certain that your intentions are good… But that still begs the question: what is your plan to set things right? What’s left that we, or anyone, can do?” He looked pointedly at Teridax. “My citizens need  _ some _ hope, Makuta.”

“I understand. We do, indeed, have a goal we can focus on moving forward. While some may see it as little to nothing to go on, I have reason to believe that the Red Star holds the key to reviving my brother and allowing him to live in his preferred state. Our goal should be researching  _ how _ it could aid his revival, and how to reach it, for the snippets of information I gleaned in my time trying to rescue him made it clear that the process would occur  _ within  _ the Star itself.” 

Everyone who hadn’t already heard this part of the plan let out a sigh of relief for the simple fact that it existed. 

After allowing them all to enjoy breathing easy for a minute, Dume got right back to business. “I assume you and your cohorts will need housing during your search for answers?” He tapped at the surface of the large table, and it powered up, allowing him to quickly pull up an overhead map of the city that almost spanned the entire table-top. “It would be wise to keep the housing near the Colosseum, so none of you will be very far away if and when we require your aid or your presence.” He scratched an itch on his chin, allowing himself some time to think. 

Matoro squinted at a particular point on the map and perked up. “What about the Titan-focused housing? If I remember right, a large amount of it is still unused, isn’t it? It’s near the Colosseum, and it has higher ceilings that can accommodate their wingspans and any extra height!”

Dume blinked and hummed. “That’s… not a bad idea. Not bad at all. We could even head over there right now and help everybody settle in. All in favor?”

A chorus of agreeing voices echoed from around the room, soon followed by the table powering back down, a large number of chairs being pushed away from it, and countless footsteps heading towards the door.

The streets luckily did not need to be kept as heavily cleared this time. The distance between the Colosseum and the Titan-sized housing was fairly short. The homes were all in good repair, if a bit plain due to their prolonged lack of inhabitants. It didn’t take long for all of the Makuta to start excitedly bickering amongst each other over which houses each of them should take.

Teridax simply rolled his eyes at the banter, then stepped forward and began examining the houses himself. He cocked a brow, then cleared his throat to get the attention of the other Makuta. “This house, the one with the greatest ceiling clearance,  _ will _ be set aside for Miserix. I suspect he shall join us soon, and I’m not about to cram him into a home too short for him to live comfortably.” He then walked over towards another house to claim it for himself, helping settle others’ disputes as he went. “Krika, I  _ saw for a fact _ that Gorast reached that house and called dibs on it before you did. You’re  _ perfectly _ able to choose a different one!”

Krika grumbled at the gentle reprimand, rolling his eyes and huffing as he walked away towards a different house. He gave this new one a once-over before shrugging, apparently deeming it sufficient as he headed inside.

Matoro sighed in relief at seeing the Makuta all slowly starting to settle down, leaning against the building so he could focus on other matters for a bit. The Matoran were gathering around the fringes of the housing area, clearly having spotted the Makuta and wondering what was going on - and, most likely, why the Toa were so at ease with the situation.

Krika poked his head out from a window above Matoro, peering directly down at him. “Hey!”

“Hm?!” Matoro jolted a little, straightening up and ceasing his leaning on the wall. “Oh! Is something the matter, Krika?”

“A bit. I’m trying to move the bed up here more toward the centerline of the room, so my wings don’t smack the wall if they act up while I sleep. But something seems to be determined to stop me. I can’t get a good look or feel for what it is because the spikes on my head or my forearm get caught when I try. Think you could take a swing at it?”

“No problem.” The ice Toa took one more cursory glance at the antsy, milling Matoran before heading into the building to lend a hand.

Krika clearly had a somewhat stubborn streak, for he was once more attempting to find out the source of his bed-position woes, despite having already declared the task to be futile. “Right over here,” he called out as he heard Matoro ascend the stairs. “Feels like the thing restraining the bed is right around this point in the gap between the bed and wall.” He backed away from the area of concern, staying on his knees on the mattress a fair distance away. Luckily, since the bed was Titan-sized as the house had been, this still left plenty of room for Matoro to take a look, even while keeping the Ignika between himself and the wall so it would feel safe.

The ice Toa peered into the gap with one eye, but his lack of enhanced vision in darkness made him as unsuccessful at viewing the problem as Krika had been. Humming in thought, he tried reaching down - and blinked when he found a sturdy hybrid of a bolt and a latch firmly keeping the bed in place. “Well that’s… unexpected… There’s a latch-type fixture holding this thing in place.” 

“What in the world?” Krika’s left brow nearly took flight. “Why would that be there?”

“Hang on… I may have a hunch…” Matoro headed towards another corner of the bed, reaching down to check for another latch. “There’s another one here… and…” He moved over towards the side of the bed that faced the middle of the room, and flopped down to peer into the space beneath it. “Yep! Just as I suspected. Four latches, one for each corner.”

“That’s strange…” Krika leant over the edge of the bed until his upper body dangled upside-down, wings fanning out to stabilize him as he, too, peered underneath. “Why in the world would they have something like that installed?”

“I actually remember why, now that I think of it. Since the furniture pieces in Titan houses like these are so much larger and heavier, moving them around makes more noise and causes more disturbance. So, if a Titan wanted to move their furniture, having these latches here should remind them to comm their neighbors a noise warning first.” Matoro undid the latches and sent off the requisite comm message so anyone who would be in the noise range of the building would already have an apology for the disturbance. “I was there when Dume implemented these, and I forgot about them until now.”

Krika cocked his head with a contemplative noise, tumbling gently off the bed. “Well, that just leaves actually moving the blasted thing.” He got to his feet and helped Matoro stand up. “Shall we?”

“Certainly.”

•••••••

It didn’t take long after that for Matoro to find himself helping all the other Makuta settle in in some way or another… as well as keeping them in line.

Chirox had been the very next one who seemed like he might need help, carrying a few teetering boxes towards his home and struggling to open the door with his foot or his powers. Matoro had quickly taken note, and gone over to help. “Need a hand?”

“With the door, yes.”

“Of course.” The ice Toa moved to open it - then paused, having heard the sound of a Rahi within one of the boxes the Makuta was holding. “...Chirox.”

“Yes?”

“...you’re  _ aware _ that Dume likely offered you all this housing on the assumption that you  _ wouldn’t  _ risk blowing it up or causing danger to locals by… perhaps… experimenting on Rahi… right?” Another Rahi sound, from a separate crate than the first, made him wince. “Especially Rahi whose populations are already on the dwindling side?”

The Makuta froze, staring at the Toa as if completely stunned. “Well, I, um…”

“I’ll get Teridax to set them free himself if I need to, you know.” Matoro leveled Chirox a serious look. “The last thing I want is for the citizens to see a reason for all of you to be driven out of the city.”

The latter slumped in defeat, grumbling as he set the crates down somewhere off to the side. “Fine…”

Matoro’s smile turned kind again. “Thank you. Would you mind passing the message along to Mutran as well? I suspect he had a similar plan to yours.” Here he glanced over to where Mutran was carrying somewhat larger and louder crates towards another dwelling. “That is, if Teridax doesn’t catch on and stop him first.”

Upon seeing his rival trying to get away with mischief where he had failed, Chirox flared out his armor in anger, getting to his feet quickly and marching towards Mutran with a growl.

Matoro sighed in relief - then jolted at feeling a tug on the armor of his elbow. He turned to look, and found that a Matoran had snuck between the buildings to come talk to him. “Can I help you with something?”

The Matoran poked their head out a bit farther, looking around a bit fearfully before focusing back on Matoro. “Toa Matoro… what’s going on? Why are the Makuta here? Why are they being trusted?”

Matoro knelt down carefully, to be more at the eye level of the Matoran. “I can only give so many details right now, but don’t be worried. As it turns out… a lot of what we  _ thought _ we knew was wrong. Pretty soon, the Makuta will be helping us set things right, in a way we never could have imagined.”

The Matoran didn’t look convinced. “Do you promise?”

“I promise it upon everything worthy that the Ignika saw in me.” He placed a hand over his own heartlight for the oath. 

At last the wayward Matoran seemed satisfied, nodding with a smile before darting away to the boundary the others had not dared to cross. They could be seen murmuring between each other, and soon the relative calm had spread, many citizens meandering back to whatever they had been doing prior to the commotion. 

Matoro sighed as he rose back to his full height, glad to have the conflict settled. He could hear two of the Makuta arguing with each other not too far away.  _ Seems there’s never a dull moment with this bunch. _ He turned and headed off to investigate, noting as he went that twilight was nearing.  _ It feels like this day has rushed by in a blur…  _

As he rounded a bend, he came face-to-face with the source of the noisy bickering - and blinked before allowing himself to double-take and rub his eyes. Gorast was arguing with Bitil… or, rather, with a group of several dozen Bitil _ s _ . The latter Makuta’s mask was glowing faintly, indicating that his repetitive presence was due to his mask power. Meanwhile… Gorast was holding a large potted plant. A large potted plant that the many Bitils kept angrily gesturing towards throughout the argument. 

The ice Toa looked over to Teridax, who the other two seemed to have chosen as an impromptu mediator and then promptly forgotten about. The Makuta leader was currently resting his face in his hands, simultaneously looking resigned, annoyed, and like he wished to be anywhere else. He peered out from between his fingers at Matoro, looking like he could use a bit of sympathy.

Matoro ambled over to lean on the same railing as Teridax, sighing in bemusement as he watched the scene unfold before them. “I take it they’ve been at it for a while?”

“Indeed…” Teridax grumbled. “All of this over possession of that potted plant _. _ Utterly ridiculous.” 

“Ah. One took it from the other’s chosen house?” The ice Toa almost felt a bit impressed as more copies of Bitil kept appearing. 

“Gorast, from Bitil’s. And since his  _ past  _ selves are the ones appearing, it means his present self likely knows how this argument will end since he’s been through it before-”

Gorast’s mask suddenly glowed, and she gave Bitil a solid  _ clonk _ on the head, all of his extra selves vanishing back from whence they came as the argument became even more high-pitched on Bitil’s side.

“...or Gorast simply did whatever  _ that _ was. I’m surprised she didn’t do that sooner than now,” Matoro said as he blinked in surprise, the corner of his mouth quirking up.  _ It feels like I’m seeing the Nuva quarrel all over again. _

Teridax’s mouth quirked as well in a flicker of matching amusement, having apparently caught the silent thought. “Believe me, she has a stubborn streak that grows bolder the longer she uses it. She probably wanted to win the argument against all of him, simply to say that she could. It seems annoyance reared its head and snapped its jaws before she could manage, though.” 

“I’m guessing Bitil is arguing both because he wants the plant and because he can’t stand the thought of Gorast gloating over winning this?” 

“More than likely.”

Matoro hummed in acknowledgement, then suddenly straightened his posture and stepped away from the rail. “Well, it’s been fun to watch, but I think we ought to wrap things up and get the settling-in back on track.”

“You honestly think you can get them to act sane for a moment?” Teridax seemed deeply surprised.

“Just you wait and see.” Matoro walked over to Kopaka, who was watching the quarrel from nearby. “As odd as it sounds, are you able to pay me back that IOU from the Snowball Sling festival?”

Kopaka blinked, taken aback. “I suppose so? Pohatu made a quick dash earlier to grab some money from our old home, in case we needed a bite to eat. The IOU was twenty widgets, right?” He pulled out the small metal pieces needed, counting them out.

“That it was.” Matoro gladly accepted the widgets, nodding in thanks before heading over to a nearby plant stall, picking out a potted plant that seemed to be a near-exact match to the one the two Makuta were arguing over. He headed over to the proprietor of the shop, a Le-Matoran with a lime-green Akaku. “Do you mind if I purchase this? I think I have enough to cover it.”

The Le-Matoran’s gaze flickered between the nearby argument and his unexpected customer, seemingly taken aback by the situation as a whole. “Uh… sure? It’s fifteen widgets.” 

“Sounds good to me.” Matoro passed the requested money over the counter, putting the remaining five into the jar that was set out for tips. “Have a great day!” He headed back towards the two Makuta (or five, or thirteen, or seven, or however many there were right now if one counted Bitil’s extra selves) and promptly walked between the quarellers, shoving the plant into present-Bitil’s hands and walking away to lean on the rail by Teridax again. 

The moment he had stepped between them, the two Makuta had fallen silent, their minds unsure how to process the sudden interruption, or the sudden solution of an extra plant being shoved into Bitil’s arms. They blinked at Matoro, then at each other, then at the plants they each held, then at each other’s plants, then back at things they had already blinked at. 

Teridax was staring open-mouthed at the ice Toa. “How… did you do that?”

Matoro shrugged with a simple smile. “I’ve been used to seeing Kopaka and Tahu quarrel for the sake of quarrelling for a  _ long  _ time now. I simply picked up a trick or two along the way.”

The Makuta leader stared at him for a bit, then broke down into chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief. “Only  _ you _ would be able to handle a situation like that one so easily.”

It seemed that Gorast and Bitil had finally decided to let their argument end, each of them retreating to their own houses with their plants in hand. For that matter,  _ all _ of the Makuta seemed to have settled into their chosen houses for the evening. Everything was finally calm.

“Well, would you look at that?” Teridax mused. “I would have thought it would take another hour for them all to be settled in, if not two. Yet here we are.” He turned to Matoro again. “Thank you for helping them. I doubt it would have gone so smoothly without you.”   
Matoro smiled. “It was the least I could do.”

The Makuta suddenly gained a knowing gleam in his eyes, peering past Matoro’s shoulder at something behind him. “Your mother seems ready to physically drag you back home and make sure you get some proper rest.”

Matoro looked over his shoulder and promptly rolled his eyes as he saw Nuju marching toward him with clear purpose. He turned back to Teridax with a wry smile. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now… so long as Nuju still lets me leave the house after the scare my last departure gave him…”

Teridax gave a wry chuckle of his own. “I’m certain everything will turn out alright. Take good care of my brother’s mask while you’re away.”   
“Don’t worry, I will.” The ice Toa turned and met Nuju halfway. “I take it you were about to tell me it’s time to head home?”

_ ‘That I was.’  _ It seemed the Turaga had slipped back into the habit of birdspeak now that his shock had worn off.  _ ‘Are you ready?’ _

“As I’ll ever be.”

_ ‘Good, because I might have dragged you home using my mask if you weren’t. You need proper rest - especially after outswimming a sinking island, as your teammates told me you must have done.’ _

“Somehow I’m not surprised.” Matoro gestured toward the leaf-wrapped Ignika with a jerk of his head as they walked down familiar streets together - now with a new perspective thanks to his Toa height. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought an extra houseguest.”

_ ‘I suppose I can accommodate him. Will he need his own seat and plate at the dinner table?’ _ A pulse of amusement was felt over the parent-child bond - Nuju had fallen back into his old patterns of banter. 

“A fresh bundle of leaves and a safe place to be guarded seem to suit him fine.” They finally reached the old house, Matoro having to ascend the stairs to the front door a bit more carefully in his new form. 

On the doorstep, Nuju hesitated and turned to look at Matoro sheepishly.  _ ‘...I’m sorry if you find it’s a bit out-of-sorts… I was pretty much drowning in my grief, and so I didn’t really have the willpower to get up and do much of anything…’ _

Matoro felt a pang of guilt, wishing he had been able to return home sooner, or even get a message of some sort back to Nuju. He offered a small, encouraging smile. “I’ll still be happy at the sheer fact that I’m home again.”

Nuju peered at him for a minute, then nodded, unlocking the door and opening it. Inside, absolutely everything seemed to be coated in a thick layer of dust. Even the logs in the fireplace in the den looked more like fuzzy children’s building blocks than bumpy cylinders of wood. 

_ Mom must not have bothered keeping himself warm, _ Matoro thought sadly to himself. He noticed a set of well-worn in footprints leading between the front door and Nuju’s room upstairs, and nowhere else. They and the staff-heel imprints that accompanied them seemed to belong to Nokama, and Matoro made a mental note to thank her deeply for keeping an eye on Nuju the next time they crossed paths.

_ ‘Like I said… out-of-sorts.’ _ Nuju stared at the interior of the home in what seemed to be deepening shame. 

Matoro stepped farther into the home - with one token sneeze - and gave a content smile. “Well, this just means we can work together to clean it all up!” He suddenly darted toward Nuju and picked him up to have the Turaga sit on his shoulders, grabbing two feather dusters for them to use. “Let’s start with the tall cabinet!”   
_ SHREE! _ Nuju let out a shrill sound of protest and surprise, arms flailing wildly before he regained his balance. On realizing Matoro had set himself a goal, he sighed with a fond yet exasperated smile.  _ ‘Your antics will never cease to surprise me, dove. Let’s get to work.’ _

•••••••

By the time the two of them had finished clearing away the vast majority of the dust from the house’s interior, night had clearly and fully fallen. They were both exhausted, but found themselves unable to stop giggling at the dusty mess that they had made of themselves, each of them now much more grey than before. 

Dinner was a simple one that evening, the two of them once more working together as they made it. Despite its simplicity, the friendly chatter they shared and their relief at seeing the household getting closer to normal seemed to make it taste unusually good. As they ate, Matoro told Nuju tales of his journey, doing his best to gloss over the more worrying parts. The Turaga still seemed to wish he could jump back through time and help his son, his hands clenching around his utensils a bit and trembling at some points in the retelling. He luckily still managed to chuckle at the fonder memories his son shared, the tale of Nuparu’s wild flight reminding him of his own team’s struggle to understand their mask powers.

By the time the two were done with their food, the day’s excitement and the exhaustion from the earlier cleaning had left their eyelids feeling practically leaden. They elected to simply pile their plates near the sink after a quick rinse for the time being, stumbling towards their bedrooms afterwards to get ready for bed.

As Matoro walked towards his room, Ignika bundled under one arm, he suddenly paused, his sleepy mind piecing together that it was the one room he and Nuju hadn’t cleaned.  _ How strange… I’m going to need somewhere to sleep now that I’m back. Why didn’t we get it ready? _ He peered at his bedroom door, walking a bit more tentatively towards it now. Grasping the door-handle, he took a deep breath, opened the door…

...and found a perfectly clean room.  _ Wait… what? _

Despite it having not been included in the cleaning spree, Matoro found that his old room was free of any and all dust, and perfectly organized. Even the bird feeder he had always kept outside his window was well-stocked with seeds, attracting avian visitors as he stood and watched. 

He heard Nuju approach from behind him and stop next to him, staring into the room wistfully.  _ ‘Cleaning your room was… one of the few things I could bring myself to do this whole time. It was a way of making my hope tangible, I suppose. That way, I knew that if you came home, your part of the home would be ready and waiting. Even if I failed myself, I wouldn’t fail you.’ _

“Oh… Thank you. I’m sorry you were hurting so deeply, though…” Matoro rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, once more feeling guilt for his prolonged absence. His eyes darted around the room as Nuju ambled away to his own room, noticing one particular “resident” of his bedroom was missing - a certain plush penguin he’d had since as far back as he could remember. 

The Turaga abruptly returned with the penguin in hand, handing it back to his son directly.  _ ‘It helped bring me comfort while you were gone. That, and I couldn’t stand the thought of the off-chance of it getting stolen. I admit I just kind of wallowed in remembering your childhood, and the real world fell by the wayside.’ _

Matoro simply smiled, looking down at the penguin fondly. “I hope he lent a good ear to your troubles.” A grand yawn escaped him, and he began sitting on the bed, removing a few pieces of armor from his arms and legs that would have been too bulky and uncomfortable for him to sleep in. “I think I’m going to go ahead and head to bed. It’s been a crazy day.” 

Nuju chuckled and gave a wistful smile.  _ ‘I agree. Get some good rest, dove. Pleasant dreams.’ _ With that, the Turaga headed back to his own bedroom, his own exhaustion showing as his posture drooped.

Matoro let himself settle under the blankets, holding his penguin close as he got used to being in a proper bed again. Occasionally he would hear a transport quietly pass the house, night-shift workers on their way to their jobs. The bed was a bit small for a Toa, forcing him to keep his legs bent as he laid in it…

...yet, despite all that was different, the familiarity was enough that he still considered it “home”.

•••••••

Matoro found himself stirring awake a few hours later, having heard the creaking of a door.  _ Intruder…? _ He blinked to clear the lingering bleariness from his eyes - and saw a pair of familiar, exhausted blue eyes peering at him from his bedroom doorway. “...Mom? What are you doing awake…?”

The Turaga jumped in surprise at being noticed, then looked sheepish and ashamed.  _ ‘I kept worrying that I would wake up to find you had vanished again… I had to get up and check. Just to be certain. Sorry I woke you.’ _

“I’m the one who should be apologizing. I vanished out of the blue…” Matoro sat up, rolling his shoulders and scooting back so the pillows supported his posture a bit more. “Did you get any sleep at all?”

_ ‘I  _ tried… _ but trying’s about as close as I got.’ _ Nuju made his way over to the foot of the bed before sitting there, looking down at his own hands.  _ ‘For a while after you and the others vanished, I would stay awake for the majority of each night, hoping you would all change your minds and come back. I would eventually fall asleep… but only for short amounts of time. There were nightmares awaiting me whenever I nodded off, nightmares of what might be happening to you.’ _

Matoro winced, guilt gnawing at him again. “I wish I’d had a way to contact you over that distance.” He tapped the temple of his own organic mask, causing it to squirm a little in protest. “I will admit, during our few rest-times as Inika, the homesickness would strike hard. When I found out my mask power, part of me would consider projecting my spirit to fly back here for a visit during the night, sleep be damned. I didn’t know my own boundaries, though. For all I knew, I might have never been able to get my spirit back into my body if I traveled that far.” His hands twisted and untwisted a part of the sheets as he remembered the longing for home. “I had to content myself with knowing that I would be home again someday, when our quest was all over - though sometimes it felt less like I was contenting myself, and more like I was  _ convincing  _ myself.” He gave Nuju a small smile. “I promise you that next time I have to go off on some wild adventure, I’ll keep you in the loop.”

Nuju gave a wry and somewhat sorrowful chirring laugh.  _ ‘I was almost hoping you could promise me there wouldn’t  _ be  _ a “next time”.’ _ His fingers traced a pattern near where his legs rested on the quilt.  _ ‘Kopeke was almost starting to consider whether he should start working on a memorial statue for you.’  _

Matoro winced again. “Oh, slag… Kopeke! I didn’t even think about how he must have felt. Has he been doing okay?”

_ ‘He was doing better than me, at least. I saw him helping out a lot around the district the few times I looked outside. Your teammates’ friends seemed to all be worried about your group, and they all worked together to comfort and support each other.’ _

“I’m glad that he’s been alright. How have other things been while I was gone?”

_ ‘Well, I wasn’t as aware of goings-on as the other Turaga, but I caught a few threads of news…’ _

They talked together for some time, eventually managing to drift off to sleep in painfully slumped positions. Despite the pain, they felt more at ease than they had for quite a while.

•••••••

In the morning, Matoro and Nuju found themselves taking a public transport to meet with the Makuta and the rest of the Inika at the city’s largest library, Axonn and Brutaka accompanying them to guard Turaga, Toa, and Ignika alike. 

_ “Urgh…”  _ Matoro found himself rubbing his back as they waited to arrive at the proper transport station, sharing his minor woe with Nuju over the family bond.  _ “Sleeping like that was  _ not _ wise. My back’s going to hate me for days…” _

_ “You think yours hurts? Try making the same mistake when your back already has a grudge simply due to you being a Turaga.” _ Nuju was visibly leaning on his staff of office more heavily than normal, using it to help support his upset spine. 

_ “Let’s hope that the library has good seats,” _ the ice Toa joked wryly, looking up as they finally reached their stop and exited the transport. 

The Makuta and the rest of the Toa Inika were already waiting at the library entrance for Nuju and Matoro, though a few poorly-hidden yawns and stretches suggested that those gathered had been indulging just as much in sleeping in, perhaps arriving not long before them. The Makuta had all claimed the more comfortably shaded spots in the library courtyard for themselves, though the Inika didn’t seem to mind  _ too  _ terribly. 

Teridax immediately turned to look upon hearing their footsteps approach, grinning as he saw the group arriving at last. He walked closer to them - pausing so that Matoro could signal for Axonn and Brutaka to be at ease - and smiled at both the ice Toa and the mask he held. “I take it you both rested well?”

“Your brother seemed to do okay… Unfortunately, both Nuju and I managed to fall asleep mid-conversation. Our backs aren’t too happy about that right now.” Matoro rested a hand against the pained part of his back.

“I’m glad to know your evening went well otherwise.” Teridax gave Matoro a relieved smile, seemingly having become completely oblivious to the conversation he had left his cohorts in the middle of, or even the confused stares of the few citizens who were passing by. 

Nuju, always observant and analytical, was quick to take note of Teridax’s focus on Matoro and Matoro’s own happiness at the reunion, and seemed to begin drawing some slightly concerned conclusions of his own. The Turaga didn’t voice these concerns quite yet, though, and Matoro thus remained oblivious to his mother’s speculation as the group headed into the library at last.

The library was large and multi-storied, with a high ceiling and countless rows of shelves. There were comfortable seating areas to be found everywhere, including some that were large enough for Titans or the average Makuta. 

Matoro and Nuju both immediately perked up as they stepped inside, glad to have so many things available for them to read. Matoro immediately made a beeline towards the astronomy books, both for their familiarity and their relevance to the Red Star, and Nuju wasn’t too far behind. The others also spread out to find their own books to peruse, everyone gearing up with notebooks, bookmarks, and writing tools in case they found a possible lead. Teridax personally made use of his height, as well as a bit of his Shapeshifting power, in order to grow large enough to reach higher shelves and their contents. Some of the other Makuta elected to hang upside-down from shelf edges and balcony rails as they read, drawing a few odd looks here and there. A fair few hours passed in calm silence, interrupted only by the occasional murmur or scribble.

At one point during this near-silence, Matoro suddenly moved toward Teridax, eyes fixed on some of the books on the higher shelves. Nuju noticed this, and watched to see what his son was doing next - only to double-take in alarm and feel certain he was in a very strange dream as he saw Matoro  _ climb onto Teridax’s shoulder and sit on it  _ as he read books from the higher shelves.

Teridax, for his part, scarcely seemed to notice and certainly didn’t seem to object. He helped the ice Toa regain his footing when it was halfway lost during the climb, then settled back into reading his book from earlier, leaving Nuju stunned as neither “seat” nor “sitter” seemed to find anything unusual about the situation. Eventually, the Turaga made an effort to settle back into his own reading, only to notice a scant few minutes later that Teridax was content enough to lean his cheek against Matoro’s hip. After some time, Teridax moved elsewhere, and stopped near a bookshelf ladder so that the Toa could climb down off of him. The latter took the opportunity to make his way to an empty reading table.

Nuju decided his concerns had been stirred enough, and it was time to get some answers. He got up from the pouf he had previously sat at and moved to sit at the same table as Matoro, peering at his son over the top of his book as he “cleared his throat” over the family bond.  _ “So… I noticed you and Teridax are particularly comfortable around each other. Perhaps it’s just a wild guess, but… were you thinking of going through courtship with him? Or possibly eventually becoming lifebonded?” _

Matoro’s end of the bond tensed up and drew backwards, leaving the connection between them taut with embarrassment as he tried to hide his face behind his current book. Eventually, though, he let out a quiet sigh and let his shoulders slump, the bond slowly relaxing again in resignation.  _ “I may or may not have been considering it some…” _ He glanced over towards Teridax before noticing the worry furrowing his mother’s brows a little and focusing back on the conversation at hand.  _ “He’s been nothing but kind, mom. He’s had  _ all  _ the time in the world to betray me, to betray us all… yet he hasn’t showed the slightest hint of wanting to.” _

Nuju took his own glance over at the towering Makuta leader, his end of the bond tangibly twitching with his own uncertainty over the situation. After some time, however, he too resigned himself, focusing back on Matoro to give him an encouraging smile.  _ “You know I’ll support you fully if this is what your soul feels is the right choice. However, if he hurts you in the slightest, I’ll be fully ready to dole out the painful consequences to him, just as I would to any other suitor who had hurt you.” _

Matoro allowed himself a small, wry grin and a roll of his eyes before replying.  _ “I figured as much. Admittedly, I’m still gathering my own courage to possibly ask him about courtship. With the tense, world-engulfing situation we’re in, it almost feels a bit out-of-place to be lending any thought to fostering romance, rather than more pressing matters. Good opportunities to pop the courtship question are few and far between at a time like this, too.” _

The ice Turaga gave a knowing smile.  _ “Don’t worry. I’m certain an opportunity will present itself if you just bide your time and move forward when your heart says to.” _

Their conversation might have continued were it not for the sudden arrival of one of the other Turaga. Dume looked quite exasperated as he poked his head into the library and cleared his throat to gain the attention of those busy reading. Once Toa, Turaga, and Makuta alike had all lent him their focus, he said, “Teridax… it seems you failed to tell your ‘Sons’ to meet you somewhere discreet, such as here at the Colosseum. They caused a  _ rather large panic _ at a market before some Order members could round them up and escort them here.”

The Makuta leader looked utterly stunned, then facepalmed, grumbling to himself. “Of all the things… I felt like I was forgetting  _ something, _ I should have double-checked…” A long-suffering sigh escaped him as he lowered his hand and looked back at Dume apologetically. “I take it you need me to go calm them down?”

Dume cast a look over his shoulder before focusing back on those in the library. “No need. They insisted on following me here.” He backed out of the doorway, and the six Rahkshi that had once caused so much trouble back on the island of Mata Nui came scurrying in. They were chittering up a storm as they made a beeline towards Teridax, the various Makuta around the room all chittering back their own friendly, soothing greetings in an effort to keep them calm.

Teridax looked to the Nuva, Inika, and lone Turaga with a small smile. “I would introduce my Sons to you… but I have a feeling you already know them quite well from the conflicts on Mata Nui.” 

The Rahkshi, during this introduction, had all been sniffing the air in deep curiosity, letting out trills that the Metru-Nui residents had never heard during their previous encounters. Abruptly, all six of them turned to look at Jaller at the same moment. The fire Toa was clearly shaken, but tried his best to hold his ground.

Turahk turned and looked to Teridax, letting out a low tone that seemed to ask for some sort of permission. He obviously received it, as he set down his staff and hunkered down, moving a bit closer to Jaller in an apologetic position. Teridax’s mask glowed faintly, and it seemed he was letting Jaller hear the Rahkshi’s thoughts, as the Toa blinked in surprise and seemed to start relaxing a little. “You’re… working to atone for killing me?”    
Turahk met the Toa’s gaze, nodding distinctly.   
Jaller seemed to mull over this for a while, before relaxing further. “If you’re working to atone… then I can work to forgive you.”

Turahk looked utterly overjoyed at this, spines wiggling happily before he play-tackled his equally spiny siblings to work off his happy energy. The tackle evolved into a full play-tussle soon, the group rolling around on the floor noisily.

Nuju stepped forward, looking both amused and a bit alarmed. “Should we work on calming them down before the librarians here get mad?”

Matoro sent him a reassuring pulse over the bond. “This should let them vent some of their energy. I’ll take the blame if anyone gets grouchy.” He smiled as he watched the tussle continue, the group luckily having positioned their play in the middle of an emptier part of the floor. “Even the Rahkshi deserve a little bit of peace for themselves after everything that’s happened.”

•••••••

A cloaked figure was grumbling to himself as he trodded along a dusty street, mind all but roiling.  _ They seek peace, those fools. Don’t they see that their efforts shall lead nowhere? They cannot achieve peace as long as they cling to their wills and clash together. I should have strove to stop their wills from ever existing when I had the chance… _ He spotted a taller figure just ahead and quickened his pace. “Toa Pohatu, I need your help! There’s a rogue Rahi in an alley nearby!”

“A rogue Rahi? Lead the way, little one!”

 


End file.
